From Zero to Infinity
by Nitramy
Summary: When Louise summons a mint green-haired young man as her familiar, little did she know that marked the beginning of an adventure spiraling beyond her wildest imagination...
1. First Spiral: Welcome to Halkeginia

_disclaimer:_ Zero no Tsukaima and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann are not mine, duh.

_foreword:_ Let it be known that the denizens of the Spacebattles Creative Writing forums as well as their stories were the ones responsible for inspiring me to write this. "Unfamiliar" and "The Hill of Swords" are perhaps the biggest stories to exert such influence.

But for now... Gurren Lagann, spin on!

**What the hell do you think this crossover is?**

* * *

><p><strong><em>From Zero to Infinity<em>**

**_First Spiral: Welcome to Halkeginia_**

* * *

><p>Not too long ago, in a time, place, and dimension so very much like ours in some ways - yet remarkably different in others...<p>

...a knight began to fade from existence.

He faded away, because his purpose had been fulfilled.

This universe would have a brand new start.

It was done.

He had taken part in the ultimate battle, and finally saw through the cracks of the future he had fought for as a soldier... long, long ago. Defeat had changed him, robbed him of his idealism, tempered him completely, transformed him from a valiant knight into a merciless dictator, consigning the rest of his kin to a dark and dreary existence... all for the right for their kind to continue existing.

He was given the devil's choice of oppression or annihilation... he chose the former.

A long, long time had passed for him to mull over the decision he made as well as build his empire from the ground up, the use of his power spinning only to sustain his reign.

And then... there was the boy.

He could almost... almost see himself in the child.

Maybe that was why during their fight, he cut loose with everything he had... and then some.

He would not admit it to anyone, but the smile on his face was not of malice, but of joy.

It had been so long since he had run into someone who could do this.

And as he managed to cough his last words out despite having a hole blasted cleanly through him, he felt a few snatches of hope.

Maybe the boy would succeed... where he had failed.

That was the day that he died yet again, a despot falling and ushering in an era of freedom for his kind.

Died... and was brought back.

To prepare for the day they came.

And come they did.

If he took time to reflect upon it, the irony of ironies was there - the messenger they had chosen? Their messenger was the girl he had cast off.

His daughter, the one he had condemned to death for knowing too much.

_"The wishes of the defeated..."_

Asking too much.

_"...the hopes of those who follow..."_

Pushing the limits.

_"...by spinning them into a spiral, they will carve a path to tomorrow!"_

In these last moments, he saw another irony of fate - his daughter was so very much like the young man his vanquisher called Big Brother.

_"That is Tengen Toppa."_

Now, he found it another proof of destiny at work because his daughter was found.

_"That is Gurren Lagann!"_

Found by the boy who vanquished him back then.

_"My drill is a drill..."_

Long and short of it, he ended up being a part of another one of their group's quests, but this time, he was part of them... literally.

_"...that spans the heavens!"_

Except during the battle a few moments ago.

Now, he had taken the ultimate sacrifice, put paid on all his accounts.

Now, he could just... disappear.

_**"...I beg of you..."**_

_A voice?_

Who could be calling?

_**"My servant, who lives somewhere in the universe!"**_

_How odd,_ he thought as he glanced around all the lights in the sky (stars), the green flames slowly dying down as he tried to sense where that voice came from.

_**"Oh sacred, beautiful and strong familiar spirit!"**_

So that's where it was... it seemed the scale of the destined conflict had definitely unraveled space and time. He could feel the intensity of those words, the emotion behind them, emotions he had only recently awakened just in time for him to give to his successor his final gift...

_**"I desire and plead from my heart!"**_

He felt himself oddly compelled by the green light shining in the midst of his rapidly-dissipating person... and right then and there, he made his decision.

_**"Answer to my guidance!"**_

With the last of his remaining energy spinning around him, he grinned as he let himself get pulled into the strange green light, his heart oddly filled with a youthful vigor as he ventured into what his contemporaries called a 'warrior's heaven'...

* * *

><p>...or not.<p>

The first thing he saw were the gobsmacked faces of children... and strange animals not unlike what he was used to so many years ago.

Standing foremost among them with a look that was best described as a cross between "three seconds from being mangled by a flying car in a head-on collision" and "what in the world did you just feed me" was... a little girl.

He had come into being seated, and as he drew himself up to stand and look at these children, everyone had on a look of equal parts confusion and derision.

How odd, he thought while sporting the most neutral of visages, looking around until he turned his gaze toward the little girl in the forefront.

Strangely, she seemed to be gesturing towards him, jumping up and down and waving a small stick in one hand that reminded him of music. Even stranger, he could sense her thoughts, almost as if she wanted him to stand still.

He shrugged and did so, thinking that one, it wasn't that hard to read her body language, let alone her thoughts; and two, it wouldn't be that bad to suffer this little girl one small request.

Little did he know that it would be the trigger for the craziest rollercoaster ride for both him and the girl who was now incanting something while waving that strange stick of hers around.

That was when she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Power began to flare around him as red lines blazed to life under his skin, gathering themselves in a spiral before converging on the back of his left hand in a fine sequence of lines.

He had long since learned to ignore pain, but the procedure did require him to exert enough willpower to not cry out or fall unconscious. So great was the effort he required that he sank to his knees, barely noticing the oldest one in the group edge towards him and look upon the lines on his left hand, writing them down on some sort of papers before they spun out of sight.

More than the pain, his point of view seemed... strange. As if he was somehow... smaller.

It was done, and he finally stood back up, asking the first question.

"What is happening here?"

* * *

><p>"Unbelievable. The Zero not only summoned a commoner, she summons a squirt as well!"<p>

"You heard her boasting, right? Like she would summon something as mighty as a dragon, a manticore or something!"

Her shoulders started to shake in indignation until the young man she had just summoned - a commoner, if it could be believed! - opened his mouth and asked a question.

"What is happening here?"

"You have just been summoned here," the old man said (old being a relative term, as he was the oldest one among the gathered throng, not that the Spiral Knight would tell them how old he really was), "by miss Valliere over there."

Everyone seemed to chortle at the fact, but Louise's new familiar seemed to just shrug it off.

"Need I remind you that everyone except Miss Valliere took two or more tries for the Contract Familiar spell?" the man asked - yes, it was the tone of voice he could understand, as he had spent some time inculcating what he knew about the art of war to his first four children - children who would end up becoming the strongest of his generals.

"That still hasn't answered my question, mister..."

"Colbert. Jean Colbert. And you should look to miss Valliere, as she does not want to be... left out of the loop, as it were."

The teacher was intrigued by the grin the newly-appointed familiar sported before turning to his master. His age and his appearance seemed to be dissonant... almost as if he was talking to a colleague or contemporary.

The fact that all said familiar had on was a pair of white pants didn't even put a dent on his bearing. As he got himself used to his new master's rather long name, Professor Colbert couldn't help but feel slightly worried.

_This familiar is more than what he appears to be._

"...a commoner?" he asked, smiling to himself as if enjoying a private joke. "Me?"

"Well, of course!" Louise said. "Commoners can't use magic, nobles do."

"Magic?" he asked, a look of intrigue on his face. "Do you mean manipulation of mystical energies for various functions and applications?"

"Uh... yeah," the pink-haired girl - who apparently summoned him here and bound him as her Master - answered, oddly disoriented at how quickly her familiar so easily turned the conversation around.

"Excuse me, as much as I'd like to let the two of you finish your introductions, the class day is done, as today's Familiar Summoning Ceremony has been a resounding success."

"Yeah, if you don't count Louise the Zero taking the easy way out and hiring some commoner to masquerade as her familiar," a student at the back said, causing the whole class to snicker.

Said girl was shaking in extreme vexation and was about to yell her frustrations on someone, anyone... until a hand went to her shoulder.

"Easy," her familiar whispered. "You're playing right to their hands if you react. Don't give them the privilege."

_**He... dares... to lay his plebian hand on me?**_ Louise asked herself - reaching the tipping point of her patience at this slight - but as she spared her new familiar a glance, he seemed to radiate a feeling of calm... the very same calm his hand on her shoulder seemed to impart to her. After a moment of thought, she agreed - yes, this was no way for a noble like her to act - and Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere followed her familiar's advice.

"I can tell you what you need to know later, familiar," she declared coldly (not towards her familiar, but for the people who kept calling her the hated moniker). "For now, follow me."

She spun around, flaring her cape dramatically before stalking towards the castle at a carefully measured pace, her familiar hovering behind her.

* * *

><p>"So what you're saying is that just like the strange... beings I've seen, you summoned me through time, space, and possibly different dimensions to become your familiar?" the young man said.<p>

Night had fallen in what Louise told her familiar was the Tristain Academy of Magic in Tristain, Halkeginia - and both master and familiar were taking a break from today's twists and turns with the girl their class called "the Zero" giving a lengthy lecture over how he got here and what he should do as her new familiar.

"That's right. By the way," Louise asked, "you're obviously not only a familiar unlike anyone has summoned, you're also a person. And I never even had the chance to ask for your name."

He gave her one of his trademark grins, the one he typically used in battle. "My name? You can call me Lordgenome."

"And I'm sorry for my classmates back there. I've..."

"...save it," Lordgenome replied, his grin softening to an understanding smile. "Even I can tell you've been through a lot."

"By the way," Louise added, her odd expression returning, "your hair is colored rather strangely..."

_Hair? _he thought as he spun around to the mirror, examining his reflection - _no wonder everything looked bigger!_ Who or whatever brought him here had shrunk him, no - rolled him back to his teenage days, mint-green hair, delicate features, wiry build and all.

"...and you're only wearing a pair of pants."

He looked at the comfortable pair of white trousers that was his apparel for the longest time, back at her, and then they had to share a brief laugh.

"I guess I am... where would I get something more appropriate to wear, then?"

"You can try the servant's quarters, as this IS a girl's room..." she answered, smiling.

Her familiar tilted his head to the side.

"...or we can go and ask one of the help for some clothes that could fit you."

He nodded, and went towards the door, opening it for her.

"Why, thank you, Lordgenome," she said, smiling her first genuine smile of the day as they embarked on tonight's quest for apparel.

* * *

><p>After what both master and familiar deemed a successful supply run - what with being personally attended to by a maid who introduced herself as Siesta - Louise had finally called it a day, dropping off to sleep while wondering why her abridged explanation of magic didn't seem to elicit a reaction from her new familiar.<p>

_Maybe he comes from Gallia, Romalia, or Albion... he never did specify where he came from. Only "from far away", and when I pressed him, he changed the subject._

_Maybe he comes from a world where magic also exists..._

_Maybe..._

Meanwhile, her Familiar was outside the gardens and analyzing both the events of the day and just how different he was now that he was bound as the little (ha, as if he got his growth spurt early) Louise's familiar.

He ran an apprehensive hand through his hair, saddened that when using his power, his head would light up on fire, incinerating it.

And he loved the color of his hair, too - it was one of the things he had given up when he chose to become the oppressor of his kind, shaving his head to symbolize accepting his proverbial "deal with the devil".

It's not as if he would offer something like a marriage to bring back an aged relative - that would just be stupid.

Anyway, he was just outside the dormitory grounds, closing his eyes as he let the night air wash over him...

...and then he uttered his word of power.

_**OVERLOAD.**_

The familiar caress of Spiral Energy began roaring through his body, and he had to suppress a smile. There was nothing that beat the feeling of something that you were so used to that it was almost a part of you, and the Spiral Knight knew it.

He carefully sensed the aura of red beginning to spin around him, and thus he began to up the rotation, getting ready to attempt to summon his Core Drill, and then...

He opened his eyes, waiting for the familiar feeling of his head burning from the excess Spiral Energy generated... but none came.

Instead, his Spiral Power seemed to converge on his left hand, where the odd lines etched blazed to life once more, surrounded by curves forming a counterclockwise spiral.

He raised the hand of his that was burning red, and focused carefully - he could feel the Core Drill coming into being slowly, surely...

...and then he stopped as an errant gust of wind blew at him. It was not enough to take him off his feet, but it did disrupt his concentration, as he was pretty sure no one should be up and about at this time of night in a school...

_Oh, yes. Different place. Different culture, too,_ he thought as he looked up to see one of Louise's classmates - the pale-haired girl with the stick - on board a majestic winged beast - the monster the lore back in his world named a dragon.

The bluette gave him a knowing nod, which he reciprocated, before taking off further into the sky, commanding her familiar to maneuver this way and that in the air.

_This... nearly all of this is new to me..._ Lordgenome thought. _I should gather more information before deciding whether to remain as this Louise's familiar._

_...I should get some rest, too,_ he added, noticing that the glow on his left hand had already subsided. Getting my Spiral Energy back to what it was is going to take quite some time...

_I wonder what my new master is like?_

Chapter 1 - **End**

**a/n:** I find the phrase "I am the drill that spans the heavens" a lot more catchy, so there.

And no, Lordgenome doesn't have petals for eyes, he still has the spiral-eye motif.


	2. Second Spiral: Carving Foundations

_disclaimer:_ all trademarked settings, characters, wrathful flat-chested zettai-ryouiki-wearing tsundere loli young women voiced by Kugimiya Rie, cheesecake illustrations, mecha design, and twist endings are trademark of their respective owners.

_foreword:_ Remember when I said the "duel" was this chapter? [Ahnold]I LIED.[/Ahnold]

Once more, **Lazengann - _OVERLOAD!_**

_**What the hell do you think this crossover is?**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>From Zero to Infinity<strong>_

**Second Spiral: Carving Foundations**

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><p>Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere shot out of bed like a cannonball.<p>

Yesterday was her first success in casting magic that didn't involve a copious amount of explosions.

Technically, it was also her second success, as she was one of the two students in her class to perform Contract Familiar on the very first try. Putting her rare achievement aside, their powder blue-haired classmate Tabitha had also done Contract Familiar on the first try too.

Louise would have gloated even a bit to the quiet girl, but she was a puzzle wrapped in an enigma, shrouded in riddles, lovingly sprinkled with intrigue, express mailed to Mystery, Germania... and the only one she spoke in anything but one-word utterances to was Louise's red-haired tormentor Kircheis Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst (Kirche for short).

She summoned the strangest of familiars - a mint green-haired young man who seemed to throw everyone he met off-balance... and when she was about to blow her top over some knucklehead classmate insinuating that she'd hired a commoner to cover her failure, a simple pat on the shoulder seemed to defuse her anger. She was still angry enough to give the class her most frigid glare before marching off the field, but now that the weirdness of yesterday had passed, it started to make sense to her.

Or not, as after she searched the room, the chair at the corner she used for study was currently occupied.

_Right,_ she thought. She had insisted on him spending the night here, in her room... at least until she had figured out just where they - she as the master and he as the familiar - stood.

Even more surprising was that he was currently seated on the chair in the casual slouch that spoke of nobility, his legs crossed, face propped up on an arm, eyes barely closed, the easy rise and fall of his chest in sleep rounding out his appearance.

For a moment, she felt her heart soften to the consistency of marshmallows at just... how... cute... her familiar looked, but then steeled herself.

_I've got to set some ground rules up. My familiar may be a human, but if I can't keep him in line, I'll be laughed out of school, succeeding at Contract Familiar or not._

She was about to reach over and yank on his sleeve to wake him up when his eyes shot open, causing her to fall backwards with a yelp at the sight of the strange squiggle in his eyes.

"Familiar! You..."

He slowly blinked twice... and came to an understanding quickly.

"Yes, me. Miss Louise... Fancoise... le Blanc... your name is long, do you know that... de la Valliere. Did I get it?"

She nodded, and this time it was Lordgenome's turn to goggle at how cute his new master seemed, as the neckline of the nightgown she was wearing drifted down one shoulder. Pink hair, slight figure, and the excessive use of lace in her evening wear all combined to make the former Spiral Knight think back to when a classmate easily pressed her buttons with one thoughtless statement.

_My new master is as fragile as she is powerful._

Several awkward moments passed before the girl finally decided to break the silence.

"Aren't you going to dress me?" Louise asked, standing up.

"If your familiar had been - what did that classmate of yours say? a dragon, chimera, manticore, something to that effect - would you have asked it to do so?" Lordgenome asked, easily swinging from the chair and standing up in one smooth motion.

That stunned her for a moment.

"Still, you're the master, I'm the familiar, so it will be as you wish," the mint-haired young man continued. "What shall you be wearing for today?"

By the time her shock had worn off, Lordgenome had begun sorting through his master's underwear drawer.

"The usual school uniform, Familiar - what are you doing?"

"Picking out something for you today, of course."

"I... I don't mean that! Why are you sorting my underwear like some sort of pervert?"

"Lace, lace, more lace, half-cotton and half-lace - your family must be loaded to afford these garments, Miss Valliere - something with lace, oh, something for swimming? By the way," Louise's familiar continued in his nearly-flat tone of voice without stopping his sorting, "your clothes are ready back there - do you want me to get a bath ready?"

"First, answer me - why ARE you looking through my underwear drawer?"

"What a person wears underneath says a lot about him or her," Lordgenome replied, pushing his master's underwear drawer closed. "I shall wait for you until you finish getting ready, then I will escort you to breakfast."

A pout that was beginning to form on her face stopped. Again.

Shrugging, she picked up what passed for a towel there and headed over to her private bathroom, leaving her familiar to wait on her.

As she started on the morning rituals, she was carefully going through each and every one of her conversations with her familiar, and by the time she was halfway finished, she finally got it.

_He is somehow cutting me off!_ Louise thought. _That damned familiar of mine is running the show and making sure I wouldn't raise my voice, react violently or something similar! **The nerve of him! The sheer nerve!**_

_I'm going to impress upon him who the master and who the familiar is by the time breakfast rolls around!_

Seething, she took the sponge and took her frustration of not being able to keep her familiar in line on the dirt and dust she had taken on yesterday (which was quite a lot).

* * *

><p>By the time she had emerged from her room, sure enough, there her familiar was, standing at attention like a human bloodhound or something.<p>

"Shall I take you to breakfast now, Miss Valliere?" he asked.

She nodded, and began the trek towards the dining hall, Lordgenome following suit.

In the hallways, she took a calculated glance at her new familiar to see that not only did he speak like a noble, he carried himself like one as well. Frowning, she began plotting her actions to rein in this... Lordgenome fellow. If she made a scene about "letting familiars eat only in the kitchens", the lower years would think he was a fellow noble and raise their voices in protest... and it would further lower her standing among the student body.

"I know what your game is," she stage-whispered over to him.

"You do?" her familiar whispered back. "Do tell."

"As it stands, I'm the master in this situation and you're the familiar. Let's not get our roles mixed up."

"I have, during our short time together so far, been nothing but a devoted familiar to you," Lordgenome declared. "You did say that a familiar's role is to assist his or her master in any conceivable endeavor?"

"How can you know about such things, being a lowly commoner?"

"Commoner? Me?" Lordgenome asked, smiling to himself as if enjoying a private joke. "You have no idea."

"Well, maybe you'll educate the Zero about how she has no idea, then!"

"All right, have it your way," the mint-haired young man answered, remaining unruffled.

"Ooh!" Louise said, her face beginning to turn purple. "You'll get yours, Familiar - just you wait!" She whipped out a riding crop from under her robes and brandished it dramatically a couple of times before stalking towards breakfast.

He gave a shrug. _Yesterday, she seemed like a normal girl. Today, she's getting to be a handful. Maybe I should see into her day-to-day life a bit more to understand why she's like that,_ he thought as the dining halls of the Magical Academy of Tristain loomed into view.

* * *

><p>This morning, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere wished she hadn't gotten out of bed.<p>

She was hoping to catch her new familiar show a lack of dining etiquette during breakfast, but he had so far continued carrying his noble demeanor even into his eating habits.

And by the Founder, this Lordgenome even knew where to put the soup spoon after using it!

By the time tea was being passed around, Lordgenome looked over to his new master, who was looking like she was about to erupt in a volcano of rage at any moment.

"Is anything the matter?" he asked.

The girl seemed angry, unsure, confused... and then finally, she managed to gather her wits about her and ask. "Where did you learn how to act like a noble, anyway?"

"You seem to find it odd that I can carry myself like you, despite my lack of magic," Lordgenome stated, "is it the standard here that anyone who can use magic is a noble and anyone else is a mere commoner?"

Louise nodded, and one piece of the puzzle in Lordgenome's mind clicked into place as he saw a passing flash of terror before his pink-haired master's eyes.

"I see," he said. "If it does not inconvenience you, Miss Valliere, your familiar would like to accompany you throughout your classes today."

_I have to hold her above me, show everyone that my actions hinge upon her very word. Anything less would raise her level of anxiety,_ he thought.

"ywldntwntseflurelkmenclss," Louise whispered quickly.

"Come again?"

After struggling with herself for several moments, Lordgenome's master gave a resigned sigh. "All right," she answered weakly, "if only to show you why everyone thinks I snuck in a commoner for the Familiar Summoning ceremony."

While en route to breakfast awhile ago, her stride seemed so full of confidence, but now, the girl trudged slowly - her shoulders even drooping - to where the first class of the day would be.

Intrigued at the circumstances and saddened that such a simple request would totally take the proverbial wind out of his new master's sails, Lordgenome stood up and followed Miss Valliere to the Earth Tower for the Transmutation class.

_This should give me the next piece of the puzzle that is my new master,_ he mused to himself.

* * *

><p>This was... not what Lordgenome expected.<p>

While he had read his share of legend and stories crafted by active imaginations as to what magic was, actually seeing it in action was something else entirely.

Professor Chevreuse illustrated the process called transmutation easily, turning a simple rock that to his trained eye was a usual granite-basalt mixture you'd see in a terrestrial planet of similar makeup as the world he'd come from...

...into a chunk of brass.

**THAT** was new.

He could feel a form of energy similar to his own form from the tip of the female professor's wand, enveloping the rock in a strange earthy energy as it erupted by Professor Chevreuse's command.

As the flow intensified, Lordgenome could actually feel the energy's intent - to directly modify the rock's basic atomic structure from the ground up and reform it as brass.

_Discrete matter transformation,_ he thought. _Interesting. Very interesting. Maybe I should stick around here for further research, this world is already beginning to exceed my expectations..._

"...even though this may be impressive, I only have the capability of a triangle-class mage. Square-types can transmute a rock of this size into gold with comparable effort as I have exerted during this attempt."

_**...gold?**_

_Even stronger mages could make gold out of practically nothing?_

_Then why was there still a gold standard in this world? Have a square-class mage transmute everything he or she could find, that would drag gold's value into the toilet faster than you can say "this is not a drill"._

_Clearly there was something else going on, or I may be overthinking things,_ Lordgenome thought.

"Now, Miss Valliere, why don't you take a chance at transmuting an identical pebble, hmm?" the professor asked, motioning over Lordgenome's new master over to the classroom table.

"Excuse me, Professor, seeing as this is just your first day teaching our class, I have a relevant question," a well-built redhead which reminded Lordgenome of a Great Gurren Brigade member asked as she raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Zerbst?"

"Do you like explosions?"

The class erupted into a gust of laughter at that question, and Lordgenome could see his little master's shoulders begin to shake in barely concealed irritation.

"I suppose not, but why ask a very inappropriate question for this class? This is basic earth magic we are beginning to tackle."

"Well, Louise over there has an annoying habit of turning every spell she casts into an explosion," the redhead continued, another wave of laughter pouring over Lordgenome.

_Ah, yes. Teenagers. Almost forgot why these hormone-addled adolescents frighten the stuffing out of me even now,_ Lordgenome thought.

"Even then, Miss Valliere, would you like to try?"

She looked over at Professor Chevreuse as if she was a life raft and Louise had just been thrown off a boat, and nodded frantically.

"Go ahead."

Louise waved her wand, made the incantations, cast the spell...

"This one's gonna be big, everyone... **GET DOWN!**" the redhead shouted, taking cover under her stone desk as the pulse of energy radiating from Louise's wand was great enough that an aura of gray light shimmered to life around her as she finalized casting the basic transmutation spell.

For up to a mile outside the Earth tower, birds and other animals were startled to the point of frenzied flight, as the crump of an explosion ripped across the forest and towns surrounding the Magical Academy of Tristain.

By the time the last of the rubble had settled to the ground, everyone - fortunately - had taken cover from the larger-than-average explosion they had come to expect from Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere.

"Cough, cough, that's Louise the Zero for you," the redhead said as she crawled out from her cover - never missing a chance to get a point in edgewise, "the only student here who turns a simple transmutation spell into a deadly explosion."

"Maybe you put a little too much into your spells," Professor Chevreuse admitted as she emerged from the teacher's desk, her clothing gray with dust but otherwise unharmed, "and I see now where they got your nickname from."

That was the last straw as Louise simply turned around and rushed out the classroom, sobbing down the hallways.

* * *

><p>Her familiar was still standing there, looking at the handiwork of his new master, and everything made sense.<p>

Belatedly, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place as soon as the spell was cast - and even someone like him respected the raw amount of power she put into the spell.

As soon as Lordgenome got his wits back, he quickly got himself into gear and tore out of the classroom in hot pursuit of his new master... someone as distraught as she was, she'd either blow something up again, or someone else would use her unstable emotional state to their advantage and... something.

He knew this because the last would-be Spiral Energy user before Simon the Digger fell to the very same thing.

It didn't take him that long to find her, because as soon as he had entered Louise's room, he could hear the sobs coming from the bathroom.

He knocked on the bathroom door.

"Miss Valliere."

"Go away," she spluttered out.

"Miss Va-Louise."

"I said, go away, inconsiderate familiar," Louise sobbed.

"I'm going in on the count of three," Lordgenome said. "One."

"I said I don't need any of your-"

"Two."

"-stupid familiar, thinking he knows better than-"

"Three."

Lordgenome tried the doorknob, which was surprisingly unlocked, and went in to see his new master seated on the bathroom's porcelain throne, seat down, and rubbing her eyes raw.

He couldn't help it - he went towards her.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm a noble. Nobles are supposed to be the best of everyone else."

"I'm here. Hush now."

"What kind of a noble am I if I can't cast a single stupid spell, let alone keep my headstrong familiar in line?"

"Easy."

"I'm nothing more than a worthless Zero. Worthless, worthless, worthless..."

And then she wrapped her arms around her familiar, losing herself in her sorrow and self-pity - right then and there, Lordgenome decided that he'd stay here.

If there was someone who was pretty much cut out to be this poor girl's familiar, it had to be him. Because he had once upon a time been a child with a power he could not understand.

It had driven him to do all sorts of evil for goodness how long, and if this was the universe's way of making him pay for all this - make sure this girl would not go down the path he took - he would gladly pay it.

"There, there. I'm here now. Your annoying, headstrong Familiar is here, now."

* * *

><p>She had literally cried herself to sleep, and as the Spiral Knight tucked his master in for the night, the thoughts within his head began to churn - no wonder she was so hung up on trying to control him, or at least to appear as controlling him; taking care of that would be easy.<p>

Her power was another thing entirely. Based on what little he knew of Earth magic so far, he theorized that what this place called magic was a limited form of Spiral Energy - instead of being used to create matter from less energy required, what they called willpower was used on matter itself, shaping and molding it to the caster's whims and expertise.

That worked for most people, except for a certain pink-haired little girl.

Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere didn't use her power in that way.

Instead of coming from within her, she seemed to tap into something more... primal. Something that reminded him of the very Spiral Energy he harnessed.

It was here that he came to a theory on how to make his little master cast better spells - give her simple exercises to make the use of Spiral Energy easier and more effortless - exercises that he recalled doing, even all those centuries ago.

The red spirals in his eyes glowed as he gazed upon her sleeping form.

"Sleep now, Miss Valliere. Once you hit the very bottom, there's nowhere else to go but up."

* * *

><p>Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere woke up as if from a dark, dreary nightmare.<p>

But this time, instead of the usual feeling of the whole world carrying on with their beautiful morning despite what her misfortune the day before, she woke up instead to the song of birds, the pleasant warmth of the sun, and a discreet tapping on her bedroom door.

Pulling on a wrapper, she went to the source of the knocking, curious as to who could be at her doorstep.

Upon opening the door, she saw her Familiar wearing an immaculately white shirt and shoes to go with his usual white pants - and unlike the previous day, he was wearing an enthusiastic smile on his face.

"Today's the day of the Void, isn't it? So why wake me up this early?" Louise asked her familiar after letting out a rather long and unladylike yawn.

"Dress for ease of movement, Miss Valliere... We're going training today."

Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere was confused.

Normally, she'd take a chunk out of her allowance and head to the town to do some shopping when she'd had a particularly bad day, but she couldn't entirely say no to her familiar. She could feel his willpower skipping like a child when taken outside to play, and that maybe today could make her feel even better given the debacle that was...

...no, best not think about it, as she knew it took only one careless word to send her into a downward spiral. Today started off so well, and she'd take full advantage of it.

"I took the initiative of going to Professor Colbert last night and requisitioned the use of this training field for us. Isn't it great?" Lordgenome asked.

"I... I don't understand," Louise answered. "Shouldn't you be..."

"You will, in time; and no," her familiar declared. "A lot of your problems come from assuming. Tell me, did what happen yesterday happen in other classes too?"

Louise nodded.

"But the professor told me last night that there was a fifth element."

"Yes, but the Void element's legendary, hasn't appeared for thousands of years, and a zero like me? A Void user? Impossible."

"How about you take that word 'impossible' and kick it to the curb, then?" Lordgenome asked with a smile on his face.

"But it's ridiculous!"

"It's also called 'the process of elimination'. Professor Colbert very kindly told me about your... issues with casting spells of the four main elements. If they aren't your forte, then by elimination, you're a Void mage. Plain and simple."

Louise was skeptical about this revelation, and carefully hid that spark of hope in her heart that her annoying, headstrong Familiar was telling the truth... "Okay, prove it to me then."

"We'll meditate."

Her jaw dropped to the floor.

"Meditate?"

"You know, sit down comfortably, use a mental focus to concentrate your willpower, and in so doing get a greater understanding of the power within you."

"I've tried that myself, and it didn't help. The explosions I cast after meditating were larger."

Lordgenome chuckled. "Well then, it **DOES** work. Try it again. This time, I'll walk you through it."

"How do I know this won't turn any spell I cast into a really huge explosion the size of Albion?"

The former Spiral Knight shrugged at his master's defeatism and immediately went to the usual question to ask in order to start drilling a hole in it. "How do you know it won't work if you don't try it, Master?"

Louise stuck her tongue out at her headstrong familiar. "Okay, but if this doesn't work..."

"I'll watch your back. Just focus, okay?"

After a moment, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere nodded. "Let's do this," she declared.

* * *

><p>Louise was currently seated in the shade of a large tree in the middle of the clearing that was the training ground he had requested to use for today from Professor Colbert.<p>

Her eyes were closed, her back ramrod straight, and her legs crossed in what her familiar called the standard meditative seating pose - it was uncomfortable at first, but she had quickly warmed up to it. _This was not a bad way of sitting to meditate,_ she concluded.

"You've cast several spells that end up becoming explosions, do you not?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then it means that you can already channel your willpower easily. Do it."

Louise began to clear her mind, focusing on harnessing her own magical energies. Slowly, but surely, a haze of power began forming around her seated form. Lordgenome nodded in approval as the exercise went according to his hypotheses.

"How does your magic feel like?" he asked.

"Feel?"

"Yes," her familiar answered, continuing to speak to her in an easy, pleasant, and supportive fashion. "Does it feel warm, cold? Smooth, rough? Quantify it clearly for me."

"It feels... it feels strange. It doesn't feel like anything. I can only feel it... move."

"Are you making it move?"

"No."

"How does it move? Tell me how it moves, Louise."

"It spins."

"Excellent, Louise," Lordgenome said, a smile growing on his face as more of his hypotheses were proven. "Focus on the sensation of spinning without feeling nauseous. Do you feel nauseous right now, Louise?"

"No."

"Even if you've felt it spinning for some time now?"

"Yes."

"Focus on the feeling of rotation, Louise. Now, slowly, carefully, ease off and let your hold over your magic go."

It took a full five minutes for the haze of power to subside from the pink-haired girl, and when she opened her eyes, her familiar's spinning red eyes met her defocused ones.

"That felt... very strange."

"Yes. I hypothesized that you've always tried to resist the flow of your magic, which is why you keep casting all these explosions. Now that I've been proven right and you've begun to go with the flow of your own power, we'll start on a few channeling exercises I've made."

"Familiar..." Louise asked. "Were you some sort of teacher before I summoned you?"

Lordgenome's look towards his master softened. "I spent a significant part of my life teaching, if that's what you need to know."

"Thank you, Lordgenome."

"You're always welcome, Miss Valliere." He looked up to the sky. "We've finished even faster than I thought, so if you want to head towards town, there's still time."

"Okay. Wait for me while I freshen up and change, all right?"

"But of course."

* * *

><p>The former Spiral Knight known as Lordgenome was looking at his newest acquisition strangely. Technically, it belonged to his master as it was actually his young master's gold that bought the strange, rusted, <strong>TALKING<strong> sword.

She was actually finished with the day's expenses when they decided to go look at the arms store, where sharp, metallic implements of death were on sale - barely five minutes after they had walked in, a heated argument erupted somewhere near the back of the shop.

"I'm telling you, nobody's going to buy a half-rotten fully-rusted hunk of useless steel like you!"

"Shut up! I'll have you know that this rusted shell is only one of the many forms I've taken through the years, you senile old goat!"

"What makes you think that little slip of a girl is going to fork over the money to buy you, anyway?"

"It's the guy with her I'm worried about. See if you can pitch me over to him."

"I don't see why he's so important. Just another student at the Magical Academy out on another window-shopping trip."

"And that's why I'M the several thousand-year-old talking sword and you're the clueless shopkeeper! For the Founder's sake, just call him over here, do some sales talk crap and then I'll be out of your hands for the short remainder of your mortal life, you geriatric old fool!"

"...That weapon," the mint green-haired young man said, moving over to the counter to see what that argument was all about. "It talks?"

"Damn right I do, pardner," the sword said with a grin. "Derflinger here, at your service."

"So the sword talks," the pink-haired girl said. "It's more a chunk of rust than a sword, though."

"Rust can be oiled or cleaned off, you know," Derflinger replied with a huff.

"True, but if you're trying to sell me a talking sword that's nearly rusted through, you might want to throw in something for cleaning it as well," Louise said, given that her familiar had put a hand to his chin, apparently gathering his thoughts.

"I'll keep that in mind. How about a hundred gold for the sword, and I'll throw in a month's supply of oil and rags, with a discount on future purchases of blade maintenance supplies?"

"A hundred gold? I could write down all the things I could purchase with a hundred gold on a pretty long list. Try fifty."

"Seventy-five."

"Sixty."

"Sixty-five, and I'll give you two months worth of oil and rags, how about that?"

Louise gave a grin that eerily resembled her familiar's. "You drive a hard bargain for something like this. Done."

"Miss Valliere, I think you should buy the talking..." Lordgenome started, only to gape as his little master presented the newly-purchased sword to him. "...oh."

"Come on, let's go home, it's already starting to get dark," she said, nearly pulling on her familiar's sleeve in her haste to leave.

"Thank you, come again," the old shopkeeper said, breathing a sigh of relief to have that opinionated, trash-talking, potty-mouthed talking sword out of his hair at last.

He'd miss some of the sword's dirtier jokes, though, but he wouldn't openly admit that to anyone.

* * *

><p>"You've been looking at that sword for quite some time now, Familiar," Louise said as the Magical Academy of Tristain loomed before them on the walk back to school. "Is it really worth what I would have bought a good book for?"<p>

"Perhaps," Lordgenome answered. "The sword seems to have toned down the volume of its speech when I handled it. Am I unworthy of wielding you, Derflinger?"

The sword answered the familiar's question. "You're an odd one. Out of all the people over the years who have wielded me, you are the first to be so... _complicated_, yes, that's the word. You have told the little lady exactly what you are... have you?"

"What does the sword mean by that, anyway?"

"You'll know what you need to at the right time, Miss Valliere. For now, I need to study this weapon."

He had to hide a grin at just how cute his master's pout was. "I'll probably spend most of the night analyzing Derflinger, so don't bother staying up for me."

"Okay," Louise said. "You sure you'll be okay with just a little sleep, Familiar?"

Lordgenome nodded, and motioned for her to head back to her room, while he decided to make a beeline for the library for a little reading before dinner. "I'll be fine."

* * *

><p>Professor Jean Colbert entered the Magical Academy of Tristain's library to sneak in a little "light" reading before going to bed. Normally, he'd try to find the driest, most theoretically entangled books he could find on the most esoteric subjects he could come up with.<p>

The more his mind was exhausted from thinking too much, the more his sleep would be dreamless... because he'd usually wake himself up by flashbacks to his past.

His train of thought about what his healers had called "Jean Colbert's chronic insomnia" was momentarily derailed when he heard someone discreetly thinking aloud... but it was close to the start of the new school year, no one would have a reason to read this late...

He edged closer, and caught a few words.

"...The resonance between this weapon and the runes on my hand is undeniable. I can..." the researcher softly whispered as he continued, "...the custom L-class G-weapon also housed a similar form of sentience, but expressed itself differently."

"But this much is certain," the professor heard as he edged even closer, the distinct baritone of Louise's familiar now becoming clear, "the weapon seems to be drawn to me, and I to it. So far, the conditioning procedures these runes are subjecting me to is subtle at this time. However, since I already know of these things, taking precautions in case I end up being compelled to do something against my will at my master's order is... prudent."

The professor coughed, and the familiar bowed slightly before returning to his writing.

"Well, well, well," the professor said as soon as he saw Miss Valliere's familiar in the library writing down notes from a book. "Burning the midnight oil like yesterday, are we?"

"Professor," Lordgenome replied, not missing a beat in his writing, "I have to hand it to you. Everything you told me about my master seemed to have helped."

"Well, of course," the professor answered. "Louise is... very motivated to do well here, and you've seen just how bad her magic reacts when casting simple spells, but..."

"...any bit of progress she sees will only serve to help her not only grow as a mage, but as a noble and as a person."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Colbert mused, before suddenly noticing the rusted sword leaning on the reading table. "Oh? You got yourself a weapon?"

"That's right, chief," the sword replied. "Mr. Lordgenome's tearing the books right now for facts about me."

"A talking sword, huh? I didn't get your name."

"Call me Derflinger."

"...Derflinger?" At the mention of the name, the professor went rigid, almost as if a lightning bolt went through him. "Well, I'll be. More proof."

The Academy teacher then went back out of the library, presumably to do more of his own research - Lordgenome had gone to the professor last night for questions after asking some of the students, faculty, and even some of the servants.

He had found out a lot about his new master the most through asking the man who had overseen the Familiar summoning ceremony yesterday, and in so doing, found out that sometimes, being too right well, sucked.

His master was truly even more fragile than he originally thought. That demonstration of power should have had the faculty devote themselves more in trying to make her specialize in casting more and bigger explosions.

Alas, seeing as this was a time that his history books back home called medieval, there was this huge brick wall called "tradition" that prevented others from putting Louise's talent to better use.

What was worse was that her classmates seemed to use this as an opportunity to further shove the girl's already low self-esteem even lower. By his guess, Louise was on the brink of doing something really dumb, and if she couldn't find anything worth sticking around for...

...he'd do something about it. There was something... something within the girl that resonated with him the same way a young boy did, not too long ago. It wasn't merely a tool for use like Spiral Energy... it was something much more.

Like this girl had the potential to hold this world in the palm of her hand, and he was obligated to keep her from crushing it. Back then, it was the pain of loss and the acknowledgment of who he was and what he could do turned the boy he dismissed as nothing into a man who put drilled a two-foot hole through him.

Louise... needed a similar spark to spur her onward. The feeling that her effort was bearing fruit, that she was making progress.

The fact that Professor Colbert shared his suspicion - that Louise commanded what to them was the legendary Void Element - to Lordgenome only gave him further impetus to try and find the foundation that Louise could lay down and thus begin her growing into an exemplary magician, noble, and a young woman.

With his theories that Louise WAS a Void mage still circulating in his head, the note-taking Louise's familiar made went well into the night, with both master and familiar unaware that the next day carried its own set of challenges for both of them to overcome...

* * *

><p>"Familiar, what is going on here?" a hastily-dressed Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere asked, still rubbing the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes.<p>

"It's a quarrel."

"Surely it's something you started?" Louise asked Lordgenome.

"No, I didn't start anything," her familiar explained. "I walked through the halls to try and wake you up this morning and ran into the three of them arguing. As to what they're arguing about, it doesn't seem relevant."

"Well, can we get extra training today?" Louise asked. "I did a little meditating before going to bed, you see."

"Ah. Initiative. We're going to make the best of you yet, but first..."

"You there, commoner!" a voice cried out towards Louise and her familiar.

"I say, you there, the boy in white who the Zero bribed to masquerade as her familiar!"

Lordgenome rolled his eyes (which got a chuckle from Louise) and turned towards the voice.

"Were you the one who put me in this... uncomfortable situation?"

Lordgenome shook his head. This was one of Louise's classmates, a blond boy who carried a rose with him at all times, and carried himself with all the flair that reminded him a lot of his general Cytomander. As he shifted his gaze to the other two people quarreling, he let out a disdainful sniff. One of them was a girl who wore her blonde hair in curls, the other was an ordinary-looking brunette.

The way they leveled angry glares - first at the dandy then at each other - spoke volumes about what this quarrel was all about, and who it sprung from.

He gave a grin as he answered the question. "No, seeing as I do not want nor need unwanted attention, and if you're trying to transfer their hostility to me from you, it's not working."

"You have some mouth on you, commoner! For someone who accepted a bribe to play pretend..."

"Play? Me?" Lordgenome asked. "Speaking frankly, while I can still enjoy a little recreation every now and then, I've outgrown all mode of playing games, especially the kind of game where you can so easily LOSE by thinking with a head that's not meant for thinking."

The barb he threw sailed right over the man's head, but not the blonde girl's, as her face began to take on an indignant shade of red.

"Valliere! Have your commoner tame his vulgar tongue, or I shall wash his mouth out myself!"

"Why don't you mind your own business and see to your two-timing boyfriend?"

While the shouting match between the two girls began, however, Lordgenome decided that a more civil approach would have to do.

"Look, seriously, you're really shooting yourself on the foot with this one. Discretion is a major part of it," he told the blonde in his best "I-empathize-with-you" tone.

"Ah, but how can one be discreet when his love runs over, far too much for a single fair maiden to contain, er..."

"...my name is Lordgenome."

"Guiche de Gramont."

"Well, Lord de Gramont, that's fine and all, but I assure you that you are in no shape for your love to run over enough for more than a single fair maiden."

"How can you speak with such conviction?"

He winked. "I've tried it. Lot more trouble than it's worth."

"What do you suggest someone as... passionate as I am do, then?"

"Why ask me?" the familiar replied. "I'm guessing you can't go wrong with monogamy for the time being. After all, being faithful builds character."

"I suppose so."

"And if you really want to 'share your love', character's not the only thing you need to be building, believe you me."

Back towards the girls, the argument had started off on the wrong foot and deteriorated rapidly...

"...you think you're better than me just because you cheated in the familiar summoning, Louise the Zero?"

"I'll have you know that while I am a Zero, I can still make things explode very well, thank you very much, Montmorency the Flood!"

"...why does my master call her the Flood?" the confused former Spiral Knight whispered.

"...because until three or two years ago, she wets the bed. Don't tell her I told you this," Guiche whispered to his new friend. "And were you really bribed?"

"I don't answer rhetorical questions as a rule of thumb, Lord de Gramont."

"Oh, you wound me deeply. And call me Sir Guiche - Lord de Gramont is commonly used for my father."

"Very well, then, Sir Guiche."

"Pathetic little flat-chested failure!" Montmorency yelled, her face already turning purple.

Louise - her buttons pushed with impunity by her classmate - turned purple from rage, as she shot back her response. "Bed-wetting incompetent... piss-drinker!"

To say that those last two words got Montmorency really angry... was an understatement.

"I'll bet you have jars of the stuff stashed away when you must go and you can't find an outhouse! Oh, hello, everyone! My name is Montmorency, and I keep my piss in a sealed jar for safekeeping!"

Louise's triumphant laugh was cut short as the larger girl roared out a battle cry and charged.

"Oh my, a fight!" a servant exclaimed in mock-distress, and several students about to head to breakfast, upon hearing the exclamation, milled around and turned into a mock audience for the two girls currently squabbling, pulling hair, grabbing, with Louise even biting her blonde adversary on one breast, causing the other girl to retaliate in kind.

A certain talking sword was about to yell "Woo-hoo, cat fight! Take it off, take it off!" but a single glance from its wielder was enough for it to just eye-ball the scenery unfolding before them.

"Aren't you going to help your master out?" Guiche de Gramont asked the mint-haired familiar.

"Oh, I know what you're thinking," Lordgenome replied, the beginning of what to him was a goofy grin blooming on his lips. "Mud's only good for when they have swimwear on, to begin with. Gelatin would work best for this type of situation."

"I should have the chefs prepare some for next time," Guiche said. "Oh, my. Haven't seen that move used that way before."

"Indeed," Lordgenome said, the noble, the familiar and the talking sword tilting their heads to the same side for a better view of the action.

The fight had gotten to the point where enough of each combatants' clothing was shredded to reveal the lacy underthings they usually wore, but before the brawl could progress (much to the disappointment of the watching males and the relief of the females), the staff finally intervened.

"What's going on here?" one of the staff - a secretary of some sort, if Lordgenome's memory was correct - said as she parted the crowd easily towards the impromptu arena and separated the two combatants.

"I'm going to bite those miserable lumps of flesh off you, piss-drinker!"

Montmorency let out a guttural yell before retaliating. "How about we finish this in true noble fashion then, Zero?"

"A duel? You're asking me to duel you?"

"Damn right I do, and you can bring that commoner with you as well! Though it won't make much of a difference!"

"Monmon my dear, I don't think you have what it takes to go on a two-on-one fight..."

"Shut it, Guiche! If you want to get back in my good graces, you're going to help me put the Zero and her pet commoner back in the cellar where they belong!"

He just gave both Louise and her familiar a resigned shrug.

"So how about it, flat-chest? Chickening out?"

"Oh, I'm going to show you how much of a chicken I am!"

"Fine! Two p.m. later today, at the clearing near where the Familiar summoning rite was done!"

"Fine!"

By now, the girl named Montmorency had calmed down enough to stop shaking. Yet, as she strode towards Louise with deliberate steps, Lordgenome couldn't help but see the poorly-hidden fury in the blonde girl's eyes.

With practiced ease and before anyone could catch it...

...she slipped off one of her gloves with her other hand, and swung it across Louise's face while leaving it dangling on her reddening cheek in one smooth motion.

"There. The gauntlet has been thrown. Don't make me have to hunt you down myself."

And with that, she turned and left, leaving a surprised crowd behind her and her so-called boyfriend following her, trying to convince her that this was a bad idea.

Lordgenome carefully noted another apologetic shrug Sir Guiche gave him as a parting shot, following the blonde girl down the halls.

Needless to say, Louise couldn't focus in her morning classes, and by the time lunch came around, she was close to becoming a nervous wreck.

Her familiar needed to find a way to get her in good enough shape for the duel in a few hours, but what could he do?

He could use his power, but that would reveal his secret to everyone - and he did not want his abilities known just yet. Better for them to make their assumptions about him, it would leave him free to move and find out what he needed to know about this world.

All his preparation may have been for naught because of childish bickering... but in spite of that, Lordgenome's mind began spinning a way out for everyone concerned... especially for his young master. She had to put an exemplary showing in the upcoming duel to keep her spiritual momentum going; losing could be the catalyst for an even worse breakdown.

Now if there was only a way to get her to believe.

Oh, yes.

The familiar of Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere smiled his devious grin as the Spiral Energy of the Great Gurren Brigade gave him the right words to fire up Louise' spirit.

_That Montmorency will be in for a surprise later,_ he thought. _How big it will be will depend on my little master._

Chapter 2 - **END**

* * *

><p><em>some notes:<em> I do know that "the drill that pierces the heavens" is from the sub. I used "spans the heavens" in lieu of the dub, which used "creates the heavens", which wasn't that awesome-sounding.

We'll be seeing gratuitous use of catch phrases by next chapter, of that you can be sure of.

I might be rushing a few things, so do tell me if the pace is a bit too fast for you.

Things will slow down by the time the duel finishes and we move onto the "Staff of Destruction" chapters, when we'll see more of what Lordgenome has under his sleeve.


	3. Third Spiral: Laying the Groundwork

_disclaimer:_ All trademarks, humongous mecha, spiral-themed characters, wrathful flat-chested lolis voiced by Kugimiya Rie, men your men could smell like, power exceeding a certain 4-digit number, and any other reference are copyright of their respective owners.

* * *

><p><em>foreword:<em> And here's the awaited duel chapter. Kind of meh, because like all my other works, I have no beta reader. Anyway, enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Here we go: Lazengann... Overload!<em>**

**What the hell do you think this fic is?**

* * *

><p><em><strong>From Zero to Infinity<strong>_

**Third Spiral: Laying the Groundwork**

* * *

><p>"Thank you for the tea, Miss Longueville," the young man with mint-green hair said, bowing his head as the tea was served for him and his new master while they waited for their appointment.<p>

"You're welcome," the young woman serving as an Academy secretary replied, tidying up Professor Colbert's waiting room a bit before presumably making her way toward the Headmaster's office.

"I'm not familiar with dueling customs here," Lordgenome continued, "so the only help I can give you is admittedly insufficient."

"And that's why we're wasting time here instead of getting some last-minute training?" Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere asked her familiar.

"Indeed," the former Spiral Knight answered after taking a leisurely sip of the tea. "I was thinking that Professor Colbert would have his misgivings about this, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly he jumped at the chance to help you out."

"Well, thank you, familiar," Louise said, her cheeks beginning to match her hair with the pink tinge they were sporting at how resourceful her new familiar seemed to be, "but now, I find myself taking a page from your book - why would Professor Colbert..."

"...sorry about that," the voice of aforementioned professor said as the door to his office opened, revealing a lightly-covered-with-soot Jean Colbert. "Some kids can get unruly with fire spells, and the compound I use for some of my demonstrations isn't exactly friendly towards that element. Please, enter."

"Yes, professor," Louise said as they entered the office, the professor taking a seat at his corner table, motioning the two of them to sit on the chairs placed on the other end.

"I can understand," a nodding Lordgenome said as he motioned Louise towards one of the chairs, and only relaxing a bit after his master had taken the seat. "So, as promised, my master is here. We shall both appreciate any help you can give us regarding the duel that will occur... in around four hours."

"Very well," the professor answered. "Now then, to start things off, Tristain's tradition of courtly dueling is of a one-on-one contest between mages. When personal honor is disputed, the mage/s concerned are recommended to settle the matter in person, but when circumstances will not allow so, a substitute can be made..."

"...that's it! Familiar, I will order you to battle the Flood on my behalf!" Louise interrupted eagerly, jumping at the chance to avoid active conflict.

Both the professor and familiar rolled their eyes at the remark.

"With what you did to get in this mess, master? Normally, I would fight for you, but not for a simple squabble that escalated to a duel like this."

"Squabble? Duel?" Professor Colbert asked. "I have only heard rumors about how this duel came about. Do tell what actually happened, as the upcoming duel does involve the both of you."

"Of course," Lordgenome said. "I caught the young de Gramont trying to have his cake and eat it too with that Montmorency girl and... what was her name? Ah, yes. Katie. He tried to pin his predicament on me, I may have said a veiled insult, and the blonde girl's temper flared up, to which my master responded with the same - the result was an exchange of vitriol, a cat fight, and then an invitation to duel."

"Well, miss Valliere, it seems that you are to settle this in person, then," the professor said after a moment of thought, "after all, the responsibility to one's familiar does factor in, too."

"But... all I can cast... I can't..." Louise answered as she began to shake.

"I'll have you know I was pretty good in that dueling business back in the day," the professor said. "Between now and the duel, I'll give you all the help you'll need - how to move, how to fight - everything possible in what little time I have."

That seemed to make the pink-haired girl panic even more, until a calming hand on her shoulder made her look over her shoulder to her grinning familiar.

"I can't do it..." she whispered.

"Why can't you?" Lordgenome whispered back.

"She's older than me, she's probably had more experience with this... I just... there's no chance for me!" Louise exclaimed, beginning to panic all over again despite her familiar's calming gesture.

"Louise," Lordgenome said quietly, "look at me."

She did, and found out that his expression had taken on a strange intensity, the swirls around his eyes beginning to glow a bit.

"You believe you can do this?" he asked, to which she shook her head 'no'.

"All right... if - for now - you can't believe in yourself," Lordgenome answered, his voice beginning to rise dramatically, "believe in me, who believes in you."

"Believe in you who believes in... wait, are you trying to get me to think in circles?" Louise asked, suddenly flustered for a bit. "But... yes... I think I can believe in you, familiar."

"What about your poor professor?" Professor Colbert added, his voice beginning to quaver theatrically.

"We believe in you, professor," master and familiar replied in unison.

"Excellent," the professor replied, his voice dropping to a sinister timbre. "We'll get you into as good a dueling shape as much we can. Get yourself ready, miss Valliere."

Louise swallowed a lump in her throat that suddenly appeared out of nowhere as she saw both her professor and familiar sporting identical, predatory grins.

_This is so going to hurt,_ she thought.

* * *

><p>"I'm telling you, Monmon, this is not one of your better ideas," Guiche de Gramont began.<p>

"Better ideas? **BETTER IDEAS?**" the blonde ranted. "First, you go and start seeing other girls because of your 'MY LOVE IS TOO MUCH FOR JUST ONE WOMAN' excuse, then I have to go defend your honor after the Zero's familiar - and that's as much of an uncertainty as it is - says something about you, and then that flat-chested failure has the gall to go and take a potshot at one of our most sacred family traditions! I'm so going to enjoy beating that smug grin from her face later!"

"But Monmon, you do realize she's going to beat back, right?"

"Whatever, as I've been working on my 'Wall of Water' - when I get that up, nothing she can cast will faze me!"

"And you realize every spell Louise casts are explosions, right? Big ones?"

**"JUST WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON, GUICHE DE GRAMONT?"** the blonde ranted.

"Yours, dear Monmon, but I'm asking you, don't be too rash about this... duel..."

**"RASH? ME?"**

"Sigh..."

* * *

><p>By the time classes had ended for the day, a small audience had gathered in the courtyard where the Summoning Ritual took place a few days ago.<p>

Lordgenome strode carefully astride his master, who - despite her last-minute coaching by Professor Colbert - was still tentative about the whole deal.

They were halfway towards the dueling area when she suddenly stopped and lowered her head.

"I..." Louise whispered. "This is impossible."

"Then I suggest you take it beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb," her familiar whispered back. "You'll do wonderfully. The professor and I believe in you."

At that, the fire that had vanished from Louise's eyes came roaring back, and the last steps she took from the Academy towards the Vestri Courtyard matched the intensity of her familiar's.

"Well, it's about time you got here, Louise the Zero," Montmorency began. "I'm going to enjoy beating you."

"Save the sass for when the fight's over, Miss Montmorency," the redhead from yesterday's class said, her usual outfit replaced with a black blouse and pants, and a white band around one of her sleeves. "Now that the participants have arrived, we can begin this duel."

At her declaration, the students all took several steps back, leaving a goodly-sized area for the blonde and pinkette to begin their duel.

"With both duelists and seconds having arrived at the venue, combat may now begin. Seconds, please take up your positions."

After both Guiche and Lordgenome had done so, Kirche continued: "All right, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere, are you ready?"

Louise nodded.

"Montmorency Margarita la Fere de Montmorency, are you ready?"

Monmon nodded, her eyes narrowing in anticipation.

**"Let's get it on!"** Kirche shouted before bringing her hand down and backpedaling to safety, the signal of the start of the duel done.

Both young women drew their wands, but didn't immediately cast their first spells, taking careful account of one another's "tells" before they'd begin...

...and Louise took the initiative. "Take this!" she yelled, pointing her wand at her blonde tormentor and thinking of nothing else but the spot where Montmorency was standing on going up in an explosion.

And went up it did, the shock wave causing the audience to step back even further - _if this was Louise's opening salvo, her finisher could very well be several magnitudes larger,_ they thought.

Meanwhile, Lordgenome was grinning in approval at Louise's amazing progress. _Now that she knows her limits, she's now beginning to try and move past them. Still, something of that magnitude should knock her opponent around, so why don't... ah. That explains it._

When the smoke had finished clearing, Louise's opponent was basically unharmed, for a wall of water had formed around her, shielding her from nearly all of the explosion.

"This is why I'm one of the best students here, and why you're, well, the Zero!" Monmon gloated.

_That's pretty dumb,_ Lordgenome thought. _That may be a formidable defense, but it hampers her mobility._ "Master, focus your explosions!" he called out to Louise.

The pinkette nodded briefly before pointing her wand once more, and a smaller explosion rocked the landscape, battering against her opponent's defensive water magic, but not actually going through it.

"Ha! You think I didn't plan for that?" Montmorency asked. "I can easily call on my element to reinforce this wall. Also... I can do this!"

Before Louise could fire off another explosion, a ball of water separated from her opponent's wall, flying towards her and beaning her right in the face.

There was simply no time for her to think about what happened, as that one ball of water quickly became two, then five, stopping her count as she began to evade the onslaught of projectiles heading her way.

"This isn't good," Lordgenome mused. "The water mage has all the advantages here."

"Water," Tabitha concurred, looking up from her book briefly, "returns."

The former Spiral Knight nodded. He could see the beginning of a red haze form around his master as she dived and evaded the screen of water projectiles being thrown at her, and knew that if this kept up, Louise would lose - thanks to those meditation exercises, she was already unconsciously calling on her magic to increase her maneuverability.

And it looked like Montmorency noticed at last.

"Why can't I hit you?" she bellowed. "I'll have to use more balls, then!"

That proved to be the trick she needed to land the decisive hail of water balls, as even with Louise unconsciously increasing her speed, a stray ball of water tagged her on the leg. The remainder of the water bullets followed suit in hitting and drenching her as she tried to regain her balance, knocking her further backwards and into the wet grass of the clearing.

"Hahaha!" Montmorency laughed. "Looks like this is it for you, Louise! Here's for mocking one of our sacred family traditions, then!"

The blonde raised her wand to ready her last barrage of water balls, but momentarily froze when she saw her bedraggled opponent ease herself off the grass and ever-so-slowly do the same.

_Her willpower is all but gone... all I need to do is to finish her off to clinch it,_ she thought confidently.

"Water Ball!" Montmorency declared as the wall of water protecting her belched out a literal curtain of projectiles at her foe...

Meanwhile, Louise was on her last legs - and had no time to wonder how she both managed to evade the non-stop onslaught of water bullets and run out of willpower... but...

Something... remained.

Enough for one final shot, she thought, as despite how that last barrage hurt her, it hadn't actually taken her out of the contest.

She had never been closer to exhaustion like this before... but still, the little something that remained within her called out to her... calling on her to stand up.

_"Believe in me."_

**Tired.**

_"Who believes in you."_

**So tired.**

_"Go beyond the impossible."_

**I want to sleep.**

_"Kick reason to the curb."_

**Please let me sleep.**

But as she saw Montmorency's face in disbelief at her staggering to her feet, water dripping off her cape, uniform, and hair, something rose up in Louise's heart.

Coughing out a red-tinged glop of water, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere took hold of her wand for the last time, and ever-so-gently raised it... pointing it towards her opponent.

**Sleep? Oh, that's right. A duel.**

**Still have to finish this duel.**

**Lordgenome - dumb, headstrong familiar - said something.**

**Didn't he?**

**You have to finish what you start.**

**Wait, that wasn't him... that was Mother.**

**When will Mother believe in me?**

**No, even that girl believes in you now.**

**The girl in front of you believes that you are now more than just a pink-haired...**

Something swelled in her.

**...flat-chested...**

That little mite of willpower left began to... move.

**...failure...**

It began to spin.

**...of a Zero.**

_**Spin, Zero, spin.**_

"...Explosion," Louise whispered.

Half of the first row of the audience - who had by now retreated to a safer location - were blown backwards several feet by the force of the explosion.

* * *

><p>Even before the smoke cleared, Lordgenome was ecstatic inside. His Master truly was one of a kind.<p>

Moments before the spell erupted from Louise's wand, he saw her molding her magic - making it spin right as she cast it - enough for the momentum to chew halfway through the wall of water before detonating.

"Whoa!" yelled one of Guiche's classmates upon surveying the battlefield... the wind blowing the last bits of the smoke away.

Both combatants were on opposite ends of the dueling field - the blonde Montmorency looked like she had been in a cat fight as the explosion seemed to have shredded a significant amount of her clothes off. Louise, meanwhile, looked like she had just gotten out of being tossed in a swimming pool, as her drenched clothes clung to her petite form.

And both of them were out cold and shaking from acute willpower depletion.

"I'll have to call this one a draw, it seems..." the redhead muttered before raising her voice for the announcement. "It's a draw, ladies and gentlemen! However - with disputes like this... well, that can wait for a moment. Medics!"

Two of the junior healers appointed to oversee this duel quickly went to each of the combatants and - with the help of a few aides - got both girls onto stretchers and made off towards the infirmary.

"...okay, but since this duel is a matter of honor, if the primary duelists end up in a draw..." Kirche the referee began again.

"...It will be up to the seconds..." Guiche continued.

"...To finish the fight." Lordgenome concluded as he stood up and made his way to the side of the dueling field that had not been peppered with Montmorency's Water Ball attack.

"I'll have to warn you, sir," Guiche said as Lordgenome could sense him beginning to harness his willpower, "I will win this for my dear Monmon."

"Warning taken," Lordgenome replied as he cracked up. "Courtesy requires me to extend a warning to you, as well. My little master needs this more than your dear Monmon does. So don't expect me to just give up."

"Very well," the blonde replied, wand at the ready.

"All right, are you both ready?" Kirche asked, the two seconds already taking up their spots without being told - and upon both their nods, the redhead continued, "all right... fight!"

The former Spiral Knight dropped into a fighting stance first, not bothering to draw his sword.

"You're not drawing your sword?"

"Not finished cleaning him up yet, sorry," Lordgenome replied.

"Then I shall begin the attack - as my runic name is the Bronze, so are the warriors crafted by my hand! Come to me, Valkyries!"

The mint-green haired young man gaped - he could see the magic both conjuring form and limited movement into the constructs, which took on the shape of winged, sword-wielding armored women.

"Valkyries - attack!"

In charged the constructs with their swords drawn, and Lordgenome had to hide a smile. Those swords were expertly crafted and carried a sharp edge. After a few swings narrowly missed him, his smile widened even further - these constructs seemed to attack in tandem and with varying patterns!

As he kept his dodging simple, he couldn't help but come up with a startling observation after the third time the bronze valkyries swooped at him.

His patterns - though varying in small amount of detail - are predictable.

"I'll make a bet..." Lordgenome gritted out as he leaped and tumbled out of a complicated series of sword swings that would have disabled a lesser familiar or mage.

_All I need to do is..._

"...that by the time I'm in your face..." he continued as a near miss from a sword swing took off a few of his hairs.

_...disrupt the part that controls their movement, and they're nothing more than chunks of bronze._

**"...you WILL yield!"** Lordgenome finished as a Valkyrie slammed him backwards with her shield arm.

As the Valkyries gathered themselves to attack him in tandem, Lordgenome narrowed his eyebrows and muttered his word of power.

_**"...Overload."**_

Energy began to flare from him, converging in his left hand, coating it in the red hue of his Spiral energy.

"My turn," he began as he charged head-on into the group of Valkyries, sparing little notice to the strange array of lines carved onto his left hand.

_Something other than Spiral energy seems to be augmenting my actions,_ Lordgenome thought as he blocked the first one's attack with his right hand and buried his left fist in the Valkyrie's gut - right where the bit of energy that controlled it was. The former Spiral Knight didn't bother to see the light going out of its eyes, as he had turned to the next two Valkyries, taking one out with a kick to the midsection and the other with a right cross to the breadbasket.

_Three down._

_Last two._

Ducking under a wide swing that would have decapitated him if he wasn't careful, Lordgenome gave one Valkyrie a body blow that floored it immediately, then feinted right towards the final one - dodging the predictable counterattack before throwing a spinning kick right where the magic that controlled it was.

All-in-all, his counterattack took all of ten seconds - and everyone watched with disbelief as Guiche's vaunted technique was rendered useless within mere moments.

And now the light green-haired young man's eyes were locked onto Guiche's.

He grinned that manic grin of his before taking slow, deliberate steps towards his opponent, spirals in his eyes shining, and his left hand smoldering with energy both similar to and unlike the ones they used.

Guiche let out a step back and an ungentlemanly "eep" before he realized his opponent was taking his time with him as a cat would before a cornered mouse.

_Take his time? Does he think me some sort of dandy?_ Guiche asked himself as his training took over.

_Come on..._

_...that's right..._

_...walk this way, Guiche de Gramont has a special surprise for you..._

Covertly molding up the last few bits of willpower he had from conjuring up his Valkyries, he visualized a cestus to be equipped on his right hand, and when the boy's face was close enough...

"You've impressed me even more than both of those young women," Lordgenome declared as he carefully closed the distance between them. "Not because of what you've done, but because of what you can do."

The closer he came, Guiche started having doubts.

_His eyes are glittering, and he's going to try and dent a hole in me the same way he did my poor Valkyries..._

When he next looked at his foe, he seemed several feet larger.

_It's fear..._

_...no, I've got to stand my ground!_

He unconsciously took a step back.

_Guiche de Gramont - you will make your stand here... and prove your nobility... **now!**_

"This will decide the match, Sir Guiche," Lordgenome said, his tone of voice remaining level despite the battle hunger he seemed to exude. "Are you ready?"

Twenty feet.

One second to cast, the other to throw.

Fifteen feet.

Ten feet.

Five.

_Now!_

...crack.

Slowly but surely, Guiche de Gramont opened his eyes.

The punch he threw in desperation hit straight and true.

"Like what you see, Sir Guiche de Gramont?" asked his opponent, and he withdrew his outstretched arm... only to see Lordgenome, Louise's familiar, still grinning at him, having asked that question in the same level tone.

He had been hit in the face with an enchanted bronze cestus, his nose was bleeding and broken... but still, he grinned, red-streaked teeth shining in the afternoon sunlight.

"What's wrong?" Lordgenome asked, broken nose and all, blood trickling down his nose and a corner of his lip. "Haven't been in this kind of fight before, have you?"

The blonde stumbled ass-backwards onto the grass.

"I... I..."

"You had an idea as to what you were getting into when you saw Louise battle your dear Monmon to a draw, and that idea became fact when I managed to fight off your Valkyries easily. Now. Say it."

"I... I... yield..." Guiche finally said.

"Well," the referee finally said after a while, "it looks like through forcing his opponent's surrender, the winner of this duel is Miss Valliere and her familiar!"

Lordgenome spared a sweeping glance at Louise's classmates to see the small girl Tabitha start to put her hands together in applause, and then the redhead doing the same - the class quickly followed suit at that.

"You did good, though," Lordgenome said as he turned to his opponent. "Much better than you think."

He extended his arm to haul his fallen foe up, and pulled him to his feet when he accepted the sportsmanlike gesture.

"...I thank you for not further sullying my honor, Sir Lordgenome."

"You're very welcome, Sir Guiche."

"Well, I shall see to my dear Monmon now, and maybe take a rest at the infirmary myself. I shall now take my leave of you, fellow classmates, dear Kirche, Tabitha... and Lordgenome."

Though his willpower was also brought down by his spellcasting, the former Spiral King had to smile with pride as he saw the defeated stride down the courtyard towards the infirmary, standing tall despite his loss.

_You don't know just how good you can get,_ Lordgenome thought as the class began to disperse. _You... and that blonde girl, too._

_Now to finish off cleaning Derflinger._

* * *

><p>"Louise."<p>

Eyes open in understanding.

"Montmorency."

Eyes narrow in preparation.

"They may have put it to a stop then, but nothing's gonna stop me from getting my hands on you now."

Aching muscles get ready to spring into action, the pain ignored.

"Oh, you think you can bring it... here?"

Grips tighten on the chosen weapons of warfare.

"...when you've evened up against me by an act of God? I don't think so."

Eyes narrow further, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"You of all people should know what happens... when you count someone out."

Grin widens. A sign of respect, perhaps?

"That may be."

The grin is returned. A tentative understanding is reached.

"Well, that was your tradition. This is mine."

Weapons at the ready.

"Shall we?"

They swing at each other with abandon, two young women who share the same thought: Why go on even when it seems hopeless?

For every swing, insight is gained.

Insight at the end of a weapon.

And as the pinkette and the blonde hacked away at each other, manic grins on their faces, nothing mattered except the glory of the moment.

* * *

><p>The former Spiral Knight momentarily stopped his cleaning of the sword known as Derflinger, looked up to the night sky, and had to smile at the stars.<p>

Such a dazzling display meant that the night would be crisp and clear.

A good time to further test his old and new capabilities, whatever those strange lines carved into his hands were.

"I'll finish off the rust tomorrow, Derflinger," he whispered softly to the sword. "For now, watch over me."

"Sure will, boss," the sword replied. "Those moves you used on the Valkyries he summoned seemed familiar..."

"They may be. But for now, just enjoy the show."

He walked out onto the clearing and called upon his power once more.

Derflinger nodded his head in approval as he witnessed his new master call upon a force so similar - yet different - than the magic he was used to drinking up, and found the memory of events long past slowly begin to awaken from within.

* * *

><p>"Why?"<p>

Montmorency looked over at the other girl, who was just as exhausted as she was.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Why are you so intent on winning this? Winning against me?"

"Louise..." Montmorency answered slowly, "...well, it's a lot of things."

"You're afraid too," the pink-haired girl whispered. "Afraid of something."

The blonde swept her gaze to the night sky outside, facing away from the girl. "It was only a short time before I enrolled here that my family managed to take care of our finances. Papa pawned off his title to pay a debt many years back, before I could even learn how to talk. My sisters and I, from the moment we could, we did whatever possible to help."

"Even if we are nobility again... it doesn't feel like it. Seeing Guiche... I guess I could have let that slide. You were around then... I don't know."

"Who cares about that? Today is the day that I've put you in your place, Valliere. When the last of the down have fallen, let it be known that Montmorency Margarita la Fere de Montmorency defeated you, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere... in a pillow fight."

The two girls shared a laugh.

"And here I always thought you'd be a Zero..." the blonde said, "it looks like I was wrong."

"I had my assumptions about you too," Louise replied. "So. Truce?"

"Truce. And let's get this room back together, the healers will throw a fit when they see it. Like a wind spell went through."

* * *

><p>The next morning, the Magical Academy of Tristain bore witness to one of the most beautiful days yet - the sky was just the right shade of blue, the weather was just right, and the birds sang their timeless song in near-perfectly choreographed unison.<p>

Classes held after what the students had called "the most ridiculously awesome way to settle conflict in school" were uncommonly subdued, right after they had seen the two primary participants walk side by side to the first class of the day.

And instead of outright hostility, a sense of grudging respect and rivalry passed between the Valliere and the Montmorency, awing the students close by who had taken in a fraction of their combined auras.

When the time for morning tea came, Siesta the maid saw a sight most unusual - in a part of the quad, several students had gathered together.

Seated along the marble benches crafted as part of the promenade were the women of the hour - Louise and Montmorency. With them were their respective familiars, Guiche de Gramont, the Zerbst woman and the waif only known as Tabitha.

And all of them were talking about mundane and academic matters like nothing.

"Familiar, something has been bothering me since tonight... I've only figured it out in between classes earlier today... but... why were you so confident in me?"

"Pardon me?" the mint green-haired young man asked her. "It's not that I knew you were going to win. I knew you'd do your best. You want to make something of yourself, don't you?"

She nodded. "Still, you didn't find it odd despite my talent of casting explosions and only explosions?"

"Well, miss Valliere did cast her fair share of explosions during the duel yesterday," Guiche added. "But unlike before, where she cast explosions accidentally, she did it intentionally now."

Lordgenome let out a laugh. "Well, that's easy. If you can only do one thing, why not do it well? I knew a person once, who thought himself the lowest among his peers, because he was only good at one thing and one thing only... digging holes."

"And he called himself Simon the Digger..."

* * *

><p>Chapter 3 - <strong>END<strong>

_notes:_ Chapter 4 will have Princess Henrietta showing up, more Louise training, a rock golem crashing the party... and the sword known as Derflinger... will change.

Oh yeah, and all the references to "special energy drinks" will end with this chapter... hopefully.


	4. Fourth Spiral: Gathering Momentum

_disclaimer:_ all spiral-themed characters, flat-chested wrathful tsunderes voiced by Kugimiya Rie, blocks, building kicks, explosions, celebrated men amongst the gurneys, and any other possible copyrighted material or references to aforementioned copyrighted material are trademark of their owners. this is a labor of love. no infringement of copyright is intended and no profit is meant to be gained from this venture... except maybe a helpful review or two or three.

_foreword:_ ...and here, the plot begins to thicken, dun dun dun... again, no beta reader, so consider this a work in progress. So without further ado...

**Lazengann... OVERLOAD!**

**What the hell do you think this fic is?**

* * *

><p><em><strong>From Zero to Infinity<strong>_

**Fourth Spiral: Gathering Momentum**

* * *

><p><em>...do you see us?<em>

_Yes, do you still see us?_

_We are... guides._

Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere saw nothing but black and white before her, as far as her eyes could see.

_Yes... guides._

"Who are you?"

_You... feel us. We are no more, but our memory... remains._

_We are here._

_There._

_Everywhere._

_We are everyone._

_We are no one._

_Most of all..._

_...we are here._

_Because we do not want you to be..._

A pitch-black face with white eyes suddenly appeared in front of her, tilting its head as it gave the pink-haired magician-in-training a puzzled stare.

_...like us._

The girl awoke in a cold sweat, gasping for breath as the image still lingered in her mind's eye.

_That was a nasty dream,_ she thought. _A nightmare... but they say that nightmares are usually forgotten upon waking up._

_But I sure won't be forgetting that face..._

She looked around her room, and let out a relieved breath to see her green-haired familiar on the seat in front of the dresser, slumped a bit and snoring lightly as the dark skies slowly grew light.

_My Familiar... we've been working hard ever since that day. All of us. Even Kirche and Tabitha show up._

The duel in the Vestri court had been the talk of the student body for a few days, until something more remarkable happened - Montmorency and Guiche had approached Louise and her familiar and asked to train with them.

In time, the party of four grew to six as Kircheis had to join in - with Tabitha in tow, of course. The enigmatic girl didn't seem to mind that much, and her blank stare seemed more focused every time Lordgenome had something to say about fighting, tactics, and other matters he felt like sharing during their impromptu training lessons.

Days passed into weeks, and a request from Louise herself revealed the reason for her redoubled efforts...

* * *

><p>"We'll break here for the day," Lordgenome said as everyone else left to go, "Sir Guiche, we'll run through a few formations with your Valkyries tomorrow, so I suggest you get extra rest today."<p>

"All right," the Earth mage said, and then they were down to two... not including the talking sword, of course.

"Louise," Lordgenome began, "you seem stretched too thin."

"I've been focusing too much on the academic side of my studies, and I'm only catching up with my practicals now. Is that bad?"

"Not if you're burning the candle along both ends," he answered. "You've been training on your own at the crack of dawn, and stay behind long after everyone else has left."

"...so what if I am?"

"Keep that up and you'll strain yourself and end up learning nothing at all," Lordgenome explained calmly. "Training too hard is just as bad as training too little."

"I just... remembered something," Louise replied, sighing as she put her wand away and dusted off her cloak. "You know, the kind of things you and I can do, it's not something we can actually show off to people. Still..."

Her mint-haired familiar smiled. "You're looking for something to show off, aren't you?"

"I think so," she answered, "but most of all, I'm thinking about something that you should show off."

"Ah. The reason why Siesta and the others seem to be dressing up the school for some celebration, does it not?"

Louise grinned. "Princess Henrietta de Tristain will be judging the Familiar presentation a week from now," she said, pride obvious in her voice.

"Ah. A presentation," her familiar said, brow furrowed in thought. "So what would you have me do?"

"That's why I've been training my butt off out here!" Louise exclaimed. "If I show that I'm no longer the Zero, I'll be picked on less at school!"

"You already did that with the draw against Montmorency," Lordgenome clarified. "Come on... out with it. Why do you really want to show me off when discretion strongly suggests otherwise?"

The pink-haired girl's exuberance quickly shifted to dejection. "I... I can't tell you. Not yet. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Lordgenome replied. "You can tell me on your own time. For now, I will simply carry on a conversation with Derflinger... no dirty jokes please, this is a school."

"These kids are running on hormones," the talking sword retorted, "but fine. I'll keep my repertoire naughty at worst."

"Thank you, Derf. I do believe we have to organize what they call in my world a... routine."

"Routine?" Louise asked, slightly confused.

"It's a conversation that usually leads to people laughing," Lordgenome clarified again, "and I do believe it will be enough to win you the award - I'll even reveal the runes before I start."

She let out a huge, relieved breath. "Thank you... Lordgenome."

He smiled at his mistress. "It is an honor, Louise."

* * *

><p>"How are preparations for your task going?"<p>

"Well enough, considering... but I would like to ask for an extension of two or three days before the item is delivered."

"Twenty percent off your final payment."

"You would give me ten per cent more if you knew why I asked for more time. The Familiar Summoning Ritual has been... interesting."

"Interesting? Do tell."

"The Zero. She has summoned someone unusual."

"Someone?"

"A young man. At first he seemed to not be a threat, but he apparently has trained his mistress de Valliere in her casting of explosions AND fought off the young de Gramont's constructs hand-to-hand."

"I see. Very well. You shall have your two days... and five per cent more to your bottom line if you get this Spear of Destiny in my hands."

"It shall be done, sir."

"So... this is certainly a welcome development," he said, chuckling darkly to himself as soon as the other figure left the room.

* * *

><p>All of them were in awe at what just happened.<p>

Louise had just cast one of her smaller explosions in response to a smaller Fireball spell Kircheis cast. Unfortunately, she had miscalculated the angle of her counterattack, resulting in what should have been the ball of fire returning to its caster rushing towards the back of Lordgenome and Tabitha, the latter helping out the former understand the Halkeginian language.

Louise tried to open her mouth to warn them, but the sound never left her mouth, as with one smooth motion, her familiar nudged Tabitha aside, spun around while unsheathing Derflinger, and tried to deflect the fireball away from the bluette.

That wasn't the most impressive part, because as soon as the fireball got to within inches of the blade, it seemed to slow down, as streamers began to leak from it and into the blade...

...almost like if the fireball was absorbed.

The Spiral Knight didn't even have to actually swing his weapon, merely hold it out before the incoming spell, but that was a secondary concern.

He could feel the energies of the Fireball constrained within the runes on his hand, the heat of its caster's passion and bits of Louise's own magic, but they were fading away, quickly turning into the odd form of energy he and Louise shared.

"Tabitha, are you all right?" the redhead asked, heading over to her friend.

"Unharmed," was her reply, brushing herself off as both her friend and Sylphid let out a sigh of relief.

"What was that? I've never seen a weapon do something like that!" Guiche and Montmorency cried out in unison once the suspense of the moment had passed.

"Didn't know it would do that, either," Lordgenome said, his mind immediately working overtime as to the possibilities and ramifications of what just happened. "So speaking and bawdy humor aren't your only talents... Derf."

Everyone winced as the talking sword let out a hearty belch. "Wow. Long time since I had a meal that good. A Fireball powered by passion and more than a little perversion. Just what the doctor ordered."

"Spell devouring?"

"Yeah. Didn't think I'd get to do that after ending up in your hands so soon, though. And not in a sparring match, of all places."

Everyone else had suddenly taken on a glint in their eyes, the very concept of a sword devouring magic itself coming from...

"I don't know about you guys, but that last spell took a lot out of me," the redhead began. "Let's break early and meet up tomorrow here, what do you say?"

Nobody else put up a protest and went off to head back to the Academy; and with Louise among them, Lordgenome felt the slight tug from the runes that urged him to follow her.

_Whatever geas included with these runes is, it's getting stronger over time,_ he thought as he forced it down and took off after his mistress anyway. _I'll ask someone to look into it._

* * *

><p>"I'd like to borrow..." Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere began as she marched up to the library counter.<p>

"All copies of 'The Legend of Brimir' have been checked out, Miss Valliere, I'm sorry."

Louise sighed. "Miss Longueville, is there any..."

"Again, Miss Valliere, my apologies. All material related to the legend of Brimir in this library have been checked out by either Professor Colbert or your friends."

"Drat," the pinkette said, snapping her finger in disappointment, "and here I was, about to figure out why I summoned you... and what those array of runes on your hand mean."

A thud of books hitting the counter startled the two women and one familiar, and they turned to see Professor Jean Colbert scratching the back of his head while wearing a cheeky grin.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, "only three hours of sleep a night these days, I kind of get clumsy. Anyway, after I had dropped these off, I was going to go look for you two."

"Us?" Louise asked, to which the professor answered with a nod.

"To my office, I think the two of you need to hear what I have to say."

Longueville quirked an eyebrow at the doorway as soon as the three of them were gone, then shifted her glance back to the stack of books Colbert returned.

_Maybe later,_ she thought.

* * *

><p>Louise narrowed her eyes as the streak of white came converging on her location before she backpedaled quickly, casting an explosion to where she stood but moments ago.<p>

_He's riding the momentum of my explosion to take on a more circular approach,_ she thought right after she caught a white flash off the corner of her eyes. She darted forward, hiding in the smoke of the explosion and casting another one where she guessed her opponent would be going...

...but it appeared that the spell she cast hit nothing but air.

She darted her eyes to and fro, looking for any sign of movement before a hand burst from the smoke and Louise took... a finger flick to the forehead.

"Ow," she said as the smoke dissipated to reveal her shirtless familiar. "You got me good back there."

"Liked the trick with the shirt, didn't you?"

"I thought you went to the side when I saw the mass of white, didn't think that was possible..."

"Well, anything's possible. What this exercise is meant to do is to make you rely less on magecraft and more on taking any and every possibility in a battle into account," Lordgenome said before taking to the trees and grabbing his shirt, which was draped over some rather high branches. "That way, you'll be just as combat-ready without your wand as with."

Louise pouted. "Now that I think of it, you're starting to sound like my mother."

Lordgenome started to imagine what a grown Louise would look like - since she was built like her daughter Nia, her mother would probably look like Nia when...

He sighed. At least he got to tell her daughter goodbye... but not that he loved her.

"...Lordgenome?" Louise asked, bringing him out of the daydream. "What's wrong?"

"Oh? Oh, nothing. Just remembered some things... anyway, what was that about your mother?"

"She's kind of hard on us and our sisters... maybe too hard, if what I hear from my classmates in school about their parents say is correct..." Louise said, trailing off into a sigh, the thought of her familiar's distant gaze saddening her as well.

"...but even wild animals don't throw their children into the deep end and expect them to swim back to shore," Lordgenome mused, before his voice rose and took on the musical intonation of rote, "and that's what makes the difference. A lot of what I teach you are related to one another, so that..."

"...when I recall one, the rest of them follow..." Louise finished. "So that's why the training here is just as hard at home... but it doesn't suck so badly!"

Her familiar grinned. "That, and more. We need to keep going even while winding down. Meditation?"

Louise answered with a nod, and they walked over to the clearing - a good distance from the Academy buildings - and sat down to center themselves after the day's training... yesterday's revelation had come as a rather large shock to the pink-haired girl.

_"This array of runes... this combination at this level of complexity," Colbert began, carefully examining the runes carved onto the back of Lordgenome's hand, "based on the texts I've read, this array has only appeared in a familiar once or twice in our history."_

_"It's as rare as summoning a human being as a familiar?"_

_"That's right," the professor answered as he continued his analysis of the rune pattern, "and I might be confusing correlation with causation, but to summon a human being requires more than a simple set of runes to bind them."_

_"Professor, most familiars are bound by a simple array of anywhere between one to four runes, right?"_

_"Correct. Two points to Miss Valliere," the professor answered before pointing his wand to the back of her familiar's hand. "Look closely. While I haven't uncovered all the functions of the array itself, if you read the runes clockwise, it spells a word."_

_She gasped after digesting what the laid-out runic letters meant._

_"So it's true..." she whispered, "so that's why classes are so hard, that's why I can only cast explosions..."_

_Lordgenome smiled as he cut off the flow of power, causing the runes to spin into nothingness. "Then rejoice, Miss Valliere, for the ugly duckling is about to discover that she has turned into a most beautiful swan."_

_"I might not be as knowledgeable of the Void spells Brimir cast when he walked among our ancestors... but I will give as much help to you as I can," the professor said._

_"Thanks, Professor," Louise said. "really... I mean it."_

_The mint-green familiar smiled. "So how do you pronounce 'GANDALFR' anyway?"_

Their training earlier had been brutal, but Louise had no complaints - she was still riding off the high from Professor Colbert's theory that she may be more than just a Zero.

When Lordgenome took a moment off to keep an eye on his master, he swore he saw a cloaked stranger sneaking glances at the girl... but there was the possibility that it was a trick of the light, and just left it alone, continuing his meditation. He sensed no malice, and thus resumed his previous task.

* * *

><p>Later that night, after Louise and her familiar had put away a tremendous amount of dinner (to everyone's shock), she was just about to go to bed when a creak had her instantly alert.<p>

Lordgenome had also heard the creak and was about to ambush who or whatever snuck in the door, Derflinger in his hands and power beginning to flow through him.

"I think she's not here, Agnes," a voice said.

"We should come back later," another voice replied, and Lordgenome made his move. Yanking the cloaked figure from the doorway inward, he made a gap for Louise to cast a smaller explosion at.

Except the spell never came, as the second figure whipped out one of those slim thrusting swords and tried to skewer the pink-haired girl before she could even cast a spell. Lordgenome was on the second as soon as he saw the flash of steel - he parried what would be a lethal attack on Louise with Derf then flung the first figure at the second, a counterattack to end this ambush on the forefront of his mind as he raised his sword to attack -

"...stop!"

He glanced back at his master.

"Familiar, **no attacking the Princess!**"

* * *

><p>"I will take whatever chastisement you have in store for me based on my familiar's actions," Louise began. "After all, an unsanctioned attack on the royal family is grounds for..."<p>

The purple-haired girl Louise was talking to sighed. "It's all right, Louise. No one was hurt badly, and frankly, walking around incognito has its own set of hazards."

"This is exactly why I've been telling you this is a bad idea, Princess," a blonde girl - who Lordgenome guessed was the Princess' bodyguard - replied. "It's a good thing any escalation was averted. Isn't that right, Miss Valliere?"

"Oh yes, yes, of course," Louise said. "I'm sorry I haven't written in so long, Henrietta. I would have done so, but days seemed to pile on top of days, a lot has happened in the past few weeks, and now this. Oh! I forgot - this is my Familiar, Lordgenome."

He bowed respectfully to the purple-haired girl, who he had pegged correctly as royalty as soon as the initial misunderstanding was resolved. "And you must be Princess Henrietta de Tristain," he said, going down to one knee and giving the princess a kiss to the back of her hand.

"So courteous," she said with a very princess-like giggle. "And the grumpy blonde behind me is my bodyguard Agnes."

"Pleasure to meet you," Agnes said wryly.

"Likewise," Louise and her familiar replied, bowing lightly.

The conversation quickly drifted toward mundane things, as Lordgenome found himself just a little jealous of his master, seeing her in such spirits as she talked with the Princess. "Do they know each other from before the Academy?" Lordgenome asked the Princess' bodyguard.

"Childhood friends," came the to-the-point reply.

"Ah."

"Now, it will be difficult for the Princess to make an objective judgment at the Familiar presentation the day after tomorrow," Agnes mused, "your master will now a rather large advantage in that competition."

"I don't think so. Most of it will ultimately be up to me."

"Honor?" the bodyguard asked. "It seems odd for someone like you to have honor."

"And why is that, I wonder?" Lordgenome asked, eyes twinkling at the odd statement, almost as if he was enjoying a private joke.

"Your eyes aren't that of a knight's. More than a knight, a servant or familiar or anything I've come across," Agnes explained. "The two of them might not know just how dangerous you really are."

"That's where you err, if only slightly," Lordgenome clarified. "Just because someone has the potential for untold destruction does not mean he or she will actually do it. Some may divert their urge to more wholesome pursuits, some may deny the call..."

And then Princess Henrietta de Tristain's bodyguard had to suppress a flinch as Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere's familiar smiled, a chilling predatory grin that promised unsavory things without end. "...and some may redeem themselves in the end."

"I'll take my leave of you now, Louise. I will see you on the day after tomorrow... and I hope you and your familiar put a good showing," the princess said, standing up and signaling the end of her short reunion with a childhood friend.

"Likewise, Princess. I shall do my best then."

"Agnes, let us be going," she added, pulling on her cloak before making towards the door.

"At once, Princess," Agnes responded, opening up the door for her princess to walk out through before following.

Several silent moments passed in the room as Louise and Lordgenome pondered what was going on and what it meant.

"Lordgenome."

"Louise."

"I hope you know that I will do my best tomorrow while training."

"I'll hold you to that. Now that I understand more of your situation, I can start coming up with things to help you harness the Void."

"Just before sunrise, familiar?"

Lordgenome nodded. "Yes. Tomorrow will be the big day before the presentation, let's put in as much work then as we can."

* * *

><p>The next morning was bright and clear, the promise of acquiring knowledge hanging in the air over Louise and her familiar.<p>

They now had a starting point, and would begin working on recreating the spells Brimir had cast so long ago.

In the clearing that had become their impromptu training ground, master and familiar began the day's work with gusto.

"Familiar, what are those papers?" Louise asked just as she finished her warm-up stretches. "Don't tell me..."

"Relax," Lordgenome answered, looking every bit the unassuming boy because of the pair of reading glasses he put on, "I made some notes on the legends of Brimir I read... and I think I have something we can try to emulate."

"Oh?" the pinkette asked while going through a few calisthenics - a small part of her mother's rigorous training regimen that she could actually do well.

Lordgenome coughed before taking on the singsong of recitation. "Lo, and the mighty Brimir, harnessing the Void, used it not only as his Shield and his Wrath, but also his Sword, cleaving his enemies in twain from a distance with the Blade of Nothingness."

"Cutting spells are more of a Wind mage's specialty," Louise said. "But... an actual Void spell I can use aside from Explosion, huh?"

"Yes," Lordgenome answered. "And I think you can actually learn it in within the day. Matter of fact, I think you can make a working version of Brimir's 'Blade of Nothingness' before the sun goes down."

Louise's eyes bugged out at that. "A legendary spell... I'll learn a legendary spell before sundown? Familiar, I already know what power I wield, but..."

"Just bear with me for a couple moments before thinking you're not up to the challenge, okay? Let's start the day with some shaping exercises."

She nodded before taking her seat on the grass and meditating to reach out and hold onto her magic.

Lordgenome nodded as a haze of power began forming around the young girl as she went through the 'shaping exercise', one of the methods he had used for harnessing his Spiral Power a very long time ago. It consisted of visualizing a shape within your head and manipulating your power into that very mold.

A few weeks into his tenure as Miss Valliere's familiar, and she had already grasped the point of it. Making her Void magic into all sorts of shapes was now becoming easier for her, but the two easiest forms she could shape her magic into was a sphere (probably because of her predilection for explosions) and a spiral (because of her association with the man who used to carry the title The Spiral King).

"I'm getting the hang of it now," Louise said, a light patina of sweat covering her forehead after she finished the exercise. "So how are we going to do that 'Blade of Nothingness' spell?"

Lordgenome gave her one of his unnerving smiles. "You take your magic and shape it into a wedge."

"All right," she said, taking up a casting position and closing her eyes, visualizing the shape. _A wedge - two lines converging, much like an arrow... or the edge of a sword! Yes, I can understand now._

"Try to point your magic toward the target... and slash with your wand as if were a sword," her mint green-haired familiar said, his eyes oddly intense as he continued guiding her. "One swift stroke should do the trick."

Louise breathed in deeply, pointed her wand at the boughs of a tree... and released her magic as she swiped the air with her wand.

_"Void Blade!"_

A feeling of... something... passed through her as an odd-colored wave raced outward from her wand, straight toward the branches...

...and sliced through them as if they were nothing more than twigs, the wave dissipating.

"Incredible," Louise breathed out as soon as the last leaves fell. "So how good was that?"

Lordgenome pointed at a few branches that were only cut through halfway before her spell fizzled out. "Good enough to start with... but let's test it against something more resilient."

She could only nod in amazement and let her familiar lead her to a riverbank lined with boulders at the far end of the training area.

* * *

><p>The students at the Academy's dining area could only gape as they saw a disheveled Zero shovel down food at a breakneck pace along with her familiar.<p>

"I need another glass of milk," Louise said between bites, and halfway through her bowl, a servant had approached, placing a tall glass of milk where the empty glass was previously.

Siesta giggled as she saw them eating nearly in tandem, and also because the girl bought into the rumor she started about how drinking milk helps one... grow.

* * *

><p>Most of the morning and afternoon had Louise continuing to work on the Void Blade spell, and even after a large lunch, the girl looked ready to keel over then and there.<p>

"Can't... move... anymore..." she wheezed out, her breath coming in hitched gasps, shoulders and arms hanging down as if they had each weighed a ton apiece, and her training outfit soaked with sweat.

It would have made for a rather cute and appealing sight if not for the fact that she was currently glaring daggers at her Familiar, who looked as fresh as a daisy while going through more complicated "shaping" exercises of his own.

"Hang in there," he replied, "there's still one thing missing in your craft. While you're casting at your most efficient... your heart doesn't seem to be in it."

"It's impossible," Louise said, her eyes wandering over to the massive boulder that she was supposed to cut through with her new Void Blade spell. "I've been at it all morning and afternoon, I can feel my willpower depleting..."

Her familiar's countenance quickly moved from neutral to joyous, and the pink-haired Void mage stopped short, digesting what she said awhile ago, and trying to piece the puzzle together.

"Sometimes believing in another is not enough," Lordgenome said. "Sometimes you have to believe in yourself, in what you're capable of. Then and only then can you see your limits and break past them. Now, the boulder."

After an acknowledging nod, Louise turned to the bane of her day, the massive boulder marked with multiple gouges and slashes - a testament to the effort she had taken nearly the whole day.

The sun was beginning its descent as she raised her arms up, took up the stance, and focused on the target in front of her. As she gripped her wand tighter, she recalled everything that led up to this point.

_I'm not a failure._

_I'm not a Zero._

_I can do this..._

_No..._

_**...I MUST do this!**_

The Void within her roared to life as it heeded her call, filling her lithe body with the force of its presence.

_What did he say?_

Words from her dreams began speaking to her.

_Believe in yourself._

_Not in you, who believes in me._

_Not in me, who believes in you._

_Believe in you._

_Who believes in yourself._

_I will do this._

**_"VOID BLADE!"_** she cried out, slashing with her wand, and both familiar and talking sword were rendered speechless as a great wave of energy blasted outward from her wand, slicing straight through the annoying boulder and through the trees in the distance before curving upward and dissipating in midair.

"Well, I'll be a Shamshir's uncle," Derflinger said, "that was just as good as when Brimir cast it."

A satisfied sigh left Louise's lips before she collapsed to her knees on the grass near the riverbank.

"You all right?" Lordgenome asked, appearing by her side in a trice.

"I'll be fine, Familiar," Louise said, "I just need a nap."

"With what you've done? You've more than earned it. Come on, there's a nice tree you can sleep under. Derf and I will look after you," Lordgenome said, but the girl had already fallen asleep.

"Cute," the talking sword said.

"That was pretty good, wasn't it?" the former Spiral Knight asked as he scooped up his master and headed for one of the larger trees where a blanket was laid out.

"Yes it was. And are you sure you'll just watch over her while she sleeps?" the sword asked.

"Way to go, Derf," Lordgenome retorted as he laid the girl on the blanket to nap in relative comfort, "ruining the awesome moment with your bawdy humor."

"It's what I do best, deal with it."

* * *

><p>As it turned out, Lordgenome's concept of the word 'nap' revolved around a light sleep that took around thirty minutes to refresh oneself, especially in the more tedious times of the day. What Louise's concept of the word 'nap' was a two- to three-hour sleep to replenish the willpower she had used up during her training earlier in the day.<p>

And thus it was that Lordgenome and the talking sword Derflinger spent dusk and the first hours of the evening holding a vigil over their sleeping master, talking about what they would do during the familiar presentation ceremony.

"And then the woman, instead of thanking me for giving her my seat, starts shouting curses at me!" the sword said.

"You took the honorable road and gave her your seat and then she repays you with that?" Lordgenome asked. "Why, where was she?"

"The next carriage over."

Lordgenome gaped. If it wasn't bawdy humor, the talking sword had a repository of the most inane and corny jokes imaginable. Derf had a few good ones though, like the one where he needed to take a friend to the infirmary.

"The infirmary?" Lordgenome asked. "What is it?"

"A part of a building where sick people go, but that's not important right now," the sword answered without skipping a beat.

Now, though, he was just enjoying the starlit sky in relative silence while Louise lightly snored beside them.

"She's special, ain't she?" the sword asked.

"Very special," Lordgenome replied. "Reminds me a lot of my daughter - she might not have Nia's temperament, but she's just as tough and determined."

"You have a daughter? With that look? Odd."

"Well, I've been around for a long time that the word 'odd' has kind of lost meaning for me."

"What you're saying is that there's more to you than meets the eye, huh?"

"Something like that, Derf. Anyway, what are you going to do now?"

"Me? Guess I'm going to stick with you guys, go on a few adventures, that sort of thing."

Lordgenome laughed. "I guess that's good enough for now. This duty of being a familiar is... rather off-putting. I assume you do know about how the runes do more than bind master and familiar together, do you not?"

"Kind of," Derflinger replied, "but I slept through most of the lecture."

"Just the part where the runes compel the familiar in a certain way."

"Shit," the talking sword said, "you stumbled onto that really quickly? You really are something."

"It is my conscious choice to assist Miss Valliere," Lordgenome clarified, "and if this geas kicks in, it would still be the same, but different. Because the choice is now in the runes' hands, and not in mine."

"Well," the sword said, "the little miss hasn't asked you to do something against your will, right?"

"Yes, she hasn't," the former Spiral King assented, "...but I can feel the runes slowly beginning to erode my free will."

Derflinger sighed. "I don't know how to break it to you, partner, but apparently that compulsion comes part and parcel with the familiar runes. If you can divert its influence towards somewhere or something else, you can probably isolate it and continue on without it affecting your judgment."

"Thanks," he said, thinking about an object to seal the runes' geas into, and coming up with an idea that he quickly shot down. _I'm not strong enough to fully materialize my Core Drill yet,_ he thought. "So, about tomorrow..."

Lordgenome's suggestion never left his mouth as the ground beneath them rumbled ominously. He moved to rouse Louise from her slumber when another stronger tremor hit, and that was when he realized something was amiss.

His suspicions grew even more when his gaze swung toward the Academy and saw that one of the Academy wings had all its lights out, and then yet another even stronger tremor rocked his master from her slumber.

"...munya?" she asked as she got up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Familiar, what's going on?"

"Something unsavory," he replied grimly. "We have to get back to the Academy."

With a nod, they gathered up the blankets and made their way to the keep.

* * *

><p><em>With the Academy's defenses appropriately compromised, getting the Spear of Destiny for my boss will be a piece of cake,<em> thought the infamous thief known as Foquet the Crumbling Dirt as the golem it created barreled its way through the castle walls, targeting the vaults where the objective lay.

The walls had crumbled beneath the stone construct's shattering blows, leaving the vault's contents open and vulnerable for taking. All Foquet needed to do was walk in, take the Spear, and walk out, then...

_**"VOID BLADE!"**_

The thief ducked, avoiding decapitation from what seemed to be a Wind spell. Turning around, Foquet saw the spellcaster from a distance - a petite girl with light-colored hair swinging a wand.

_The Chevalier!_ Foquet thought. _If she calls for reinforcements, then I'm as good as dead._

With a mental command, the thief put aside the primary objective to focus on the secondary one: silencing any witnesses.

Besides, the thief had a plan B if in case the direct approach wouldn't work.

* * *

><p>"Dammit!" Lordgenome whispered from the cover of a bush. "What were you thinking?"<p>

"That thief was going to steal from the Academy!" Louise replied. "You didn't read that thief's note?"

"To be perfectly frank, no," Lordgenome said. "At the time, training you was my priority."

"Okay, here's the short version," she explained. "Big-name thief named Foquet the Crumbling Dirt wants to steal something from the school. I want to catch that thief. You'll help me out, right?"

Lordgenome sighed. "And now that the thief has seen you, you'll probably be silenced for what you've witnessed. Fine. I'll distract that thing so you can either blow the driver off with Explosion or wound it via Void Blade."

"Okay, and that huge thing's probably an earth golem."

"Let's do this."

After seeing her nod, Lordgenome sprang from cover, tapping onto a little Spiral Power and the runes themselves to augment his movement and produce a visible aura for the thief and the construct it was riding on to focus their attention on.

And focus they did, immediately turning to where he was as he dashed in and tried to dispel the magic at the golem's knees with Derflinger, backpedaling out of the way to avoid being stepped on, and following up with measured steps sideways and backwards to avoid the earthen spears being thrown at him.

_Now this is what I'm talking about,_ Lordgenome thought as he felt the surge of adrenaline from the near-death situations he routinely got into back where he came from. _Come on, Louise._

He had just dodged another volley of earth spears when he suddenly felt like his body weighed ten times more than usual.

_My Spiral Power is all but depleted! The runes aren't giving me a big enough boost! Louise! Cast the spell now!_

On cue, the pinkette broke cover and aimed for the cloaked figure perched on the golem's shoulders. Taking a deep breath, she pointed her wand and slashed the air, a prayer in her heart and her hope to finally be recognized as someone powering the spell.

_**"VOID BLADE!"** _she roared, and the cloaked figure turned to her, intent on pulverizing the Chevalier with the golem's massive arm...

...but both thief and golem hesitated for a moment - _this isn't blue hair... it's pink! This is not the Chevalier, it's the Zero!_ Foquet thought.

That moment cost everyone involved dearly, as the slash that meant to take the Crumbling Dirt out of the fight only grazed the shoulder of the cloaked figure, an impressive amount of blood spraying out from the cut - the majority of it cut the golem deep - going halfway through the construct's chest before phasing out completely.

Too bad the injury to the golem and its maker - while enough to structurally compromise the stone golem - wasn't enough to put it down. The golem continued on its path to destroy the one that mortally wounded it, trying to bring its enemy down along with it.

Louise only stood there, her willpower nearly empty from that high-powered Void Blade she cast. Standing there while the golem's massive fist was hurtling towards her...

...until someone tackled her out of the way.

"Louise!" Lordgenome yelled, holding the golem at bay and rapidly failing with his sword. "Blow it up! **NOW!**"

She could only shake her head as the golem's fist slowly gained ground, sparks flying as the stone met the steel.

Somehow, she pulled on something within herself, willing her exhausted body to stand and point at the golem.

An unholy scream tore through the landscape as the force of the golem's final blow was actually bending Derflinger, and Louise knew she had to cast something, and cast something immediately.

She pointed and made the incantation.

_**"Explosion!"**_

Night became day in the courtyard outside the Tristain Academy of Magic, and then the darkness returned.

* * *

><p>"ZERBST!"<p>

Kircheis could not place the voice that was calling for her.

**"ZERBST!"**

She, Tabitha, and the rest of the older students were tasked to keep watch over their juniors until this whole incident boiled over.

And now, minutes after a bright flash of light, someone was calling for her.

The dark-skinned girl nodded to Tabitha before making her way to the halls of the Academy, only to run into the Zero's familiar... and clutched in his hands was the talking sword he usually carried around, bent horribly out of shape.

"By the Founder," she gasped out, "what happened?"

"Foquet the Crumbling Dirt," the familiar replied bitterly. "And this. Derf is unresponsive."

"But why call on me?"

"We need to fix him. At least straighten Derf out."

"That's insane!" she exclaimed. "I'll need a forge, tools, and..."

"No time," he said, calling on the runes' power to ensure he wouldn't be burned too badly by the attempt. "Need to do it now."

"All right," Kircheis said, withdrawing her wand. "I'll need... oh, Tabitha, when did you get here? Well, it's good you're here. I'll need some Water Magic to cool the sword down after I heat it up."

"Hands?" Tabitha asked Lordgenome.

"I'm good," the familiar said. "Let's do this."

With a flick of her wand, the bent sword began to turn red from the fire magic, Lordgenome gritting his teeth as he called on more and more of the runes' power to not simply burn his hands up.

Another unearthly scream reverberated through the Academy halls as Tabitha bent the sword back into shape while the metal still glowed red.

A few agonizing moments and a water spell or two later, it was done.

"Familiar! I heard the screams, what had happened?" Louise asked, still coated in soot and dust from the skirmish before.

"Derf?" Lordgenome asked. "We got you back into form."

No answer.

"Derf, come on."

"Alive, but unresponsive," Tabitha intoned, and there the former Spiral Knight turned to the girl, red spirals in his eyes glowing as he glared at her for saying what was really going on.

"Derf, you'll get better. Come on. Tell me something. Anything," he said, turning back to the hastily-repaired sword he cradled in his arms.

No answer.

The green-haired familiar coughed out a sob and then slowly slid to the floor in disbelief at what had just happened.

As Lordgenome struggled to grasp the inert sword in his shaking hands, he could not help but feel that he and his master Louise had lost something... no, someone... irreplaceable tonight.

And for the first time in his long existence, Lordgenome the former Spiral King broke down and cried.

* * *

><p>"So the Crumbling Dirt made an unsuccessful attempt at the Spear of Destiny?" Osmond asked. "Dear heavens. I thought the thief would prefer a more subtle approach."<p>

"Indeed," Colbert replied. "Nothing says subtle more than a twenty-foot stone golem rampaging through the Academy grounds."

"Still, I hear that Miss Valliere managed to drive the thief away. I dare say it was somewhat a success."

"Not as much a success as I hoped," Colbert said before procuring a note. "Came in this morning. Apparently, the thief had contingencies."

"A shame," Osmond sighed after reading the note. "It looks like we have been confounded by the Crumbling Dirt yet again."

"Sir, you don't mean to..."

"Yes, Professor, I mean to. Miss Longueville's life is simply not worth the Spear."

* * *

><p>Sorrow was hanging over the former Spiral Knight like a cloud.<p>

But he ignored it the best he could, as he kept on replaying the night's events as they unfolded.

_Foquet and the golem went straight for me._

_But when the thief saw Louise up close and personal, it stopped for a second._

_The golem and the thief._

_They stopped and hesitated._

_Why?_

His thoughts were broken when he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Lordgenome," Louise began, and he saw her eyes were also rimmed with red. "Professor Colbert wants a word with you. He's at the vault."

He nodded and got up, carrying on behind his master mechanically, taking a moment or two to grip the hilt of Derflinger to assure himself that the sword was still there.

"Professor?" Louise called at the entrance to the vaults. "I have arrived with my familiar."

"In here, Miss Valliere," Colbert's voice said, muffled from within the vault.

"You were going to ask us about the incident with Foquet, Professor?" Louise asked after her familiar had opened the door and they walked in to the now open-air vault.

"Yes. The thief did not damage any of the other artifacts here - it seems all Foquet wants is the Spear of Destiny. I'd like a word with your Familiar too, if he can spare a moment..."

They turned to see him with his eyes wide open and his mouth gasping in surprise.

"That's the Spear of Destiny," Colbert explained. "Doesn't look too valuable, I don't see why someone like Foquet would want it... or hold Miss Longueville hostage for it."

The revelation was lost to Lordgenome - because it wasn't the spear itself that caused him to recoil in surprise.

"Impossible..." he whispered as the Spear of Destiny began to pulse with a faint red glow.

Chapter 4 - **END**

* * *

><p><strong>notes:<strong> Chapter 5 will most likely have homages and references to CSI.


	5. Fifth Spiral: First Breakthrough

_disclaimer:_ Zero no Tsukaima and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann are not mine. This is a labor of love.

**foreword:** Sorry for the evil cliffhanger and the kinda-sorta long wait. Hope this chapter satisfies expectations and then some.

All right, here we go!

**Lazengann... OVERLOAD!**

**What the hell do you think this fanfic is?**

* * *

><p><em><strong>From Zero to Infinity<strong>_

**Fifth Spiral: First Breakthrough**

* * *

><p>Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere, after roughly five minutes of searching, had finally found her familiar.<p>

The former Spiral King was in the library, seated near the window and watching the clouds go by. Judging by his slouch, the events of the last night unnerved him greatly.

The knot in Louise's stomach tightened - it was not every day that you lost someone. Even if it was a rather vulgar talking sword like Derf... it felt like losing family. Like the dirty-minded, black sheep uncle every family had - you couldn't stand him, couldn't stand him not being around - Derflinger was a lot like that.

And as she swiveled over to see how her familiar was doing, she had to gasp as she saw his haunted face.

Whereas before, Lordgenome looked like an introverted yet oddly knowledgeable young man, he now looked like a recruit shoved into the buzz saw of war and spit out after wading in the blood and guts. She'd seen her share of haunted faces when her mother the Duchess took her daughters to see the horrors of war firsthand, but none this up close and personal.

Her familiar's eyes were dulled, forced into robotic unfeeling so as to not overwhelm him with loss; dark bags betrayed his lack of sleep. Books were strewn all around him, evidence of what he had been doing before he had called a temporary withdrawal, and most of all...

...traces of tears shed trailed down each of his eyes, and he did not care.

Nothing mattered to him right now.

Then and there, Louise had seen something of eternity within the young man's broken expression, and it was not a good place to be.

_I wouldn't wish Kirche to be there, not even for a moment, even after all she's done,_ Louise thought, unsure as to what she was supposed to do.

_Maybe some human contact is what my poor, steadfast familiar needs,_ she decided, putting a hand on Lordgenome's shoulder.

He responded, reaching over with his other hand to lay it on top of the hand of his pink-haired mistress.

Thus, the two of them, master and familiar, swept their gazes to the heavens, neither one minding the other's shaking shoulders nor their sobs, and spent the good part of the morning grieving for those lost today and in days past.

* * *

><p>It was a bit past lunch when Louise and Lordgenome decided to make themselves known in the lunch hall, walking toward the lunch hall a lot more relieved than they had been since the theft by Fouquet.<p>

The two were first approached by a pensive Kirche and Tabitha as soon as they crossed the threshold, the two girls going through a little sorrow and grieving of their own.

"Valliere... Louise," Kirche began, "I'd like you two to know that Tabitha and I... we did our best. We're sorry."

The pinkette nodded. "We know," she sighed. "Founder help us, we know you both did what you could."

"Apology..." Tabitha muttered.

"...Apology accepted," the former Spiral King replied, his eyes not looking that haunted anymore as he looked into Tabitha's.

The silence that followed seemed right, as the four of them shared the sorrow of yesterday.

"What do we do now?" Kirche asked, normalcy being restored somewhat after the communal moment.

"Pick up the pieces, I guess," Louise answered, "but before that, lunch." A huge growl from her stomach punctuated the sentence abruptly sending a gust of laughter through all of them, earning them a brief respite from recent events.

The four of them were joined by Guiche and Monmon a few moments later, and the blonde had to tell them about how tired she was from assisting the healers. Tired... but proud. It earned her a hefty barrage of compliments, and even more from Guiche.

As he saw the friends eat, Lordgenome felt something click in his mind.

_Fouquet couldn't have snuck that golem onto the campus on his own._

_He had to have an accomplice._

The Spiral Knight couldn't wait to test out his theory, as Louise and the others would be pulled onto assisting the relief effort in restoring the Academy and healing the injured after the afternoon meal, leaving him to put the evening's events, the morning's revelations, and today's theory together to make some sort of sense.

Somehow, he knew that the Spear was the linchpin to it all, and no one here knew what it really was.

* * *

><p>"Guiche, Montmorency, Kirche, Tabitha..." Lordgenome said right after lunch had finished, "look after Louise on my behalf this afternoon."<p>

"Eh?" Kirche asked. "Why would you leave your master behind? She needs you now, more than ever. Fouquet might still be trolling around for more treasures to grab."

Lordgenome took this moment to think. _Fouquet won't need to get the spear now that he has Miss Longueville hostage, he can always barter for it. Pretty smart, by my understanding. Brilliant of him to resort to kidnapping as plan B when theft fails... but what concerns me now is that accomplice. He or she could still be in the castle._

"Louise will be fine. I'll meet up with all of you at dusk. I just have a few things I need straightened out," he explained before heading out to the halls, and out into the courtyard where the battle the night before took place.

At the immediate vicinity of the castle wing, Tristainian soldiers were stationed to watch over the place where the attempted theft was made, but after a servant explained that the odd young man was Lady Valliere's familiar - and the reason why despite the massive damage to the courtyard, nothing was stolen - he was allowed to return to the 'scene of the crime'.

Pangs of pain plagued Lordgenome as he carefully analyzed the battlefield, looking for the one thing he needed. But as his gaze swept around the ruined yard, he felt a presence close in...

...and he whirled around to see Professor Colbert with a magnifying glass.

"Professor?"

"Lordgenome?"

* * *

><p>"You're trying to figure out how Fouquet managed to do this also, huh?" Lordgenome asked as the two continued their investigation under the watchful eye of the Tristainian soldiers.<p>

"Indeed I do," Colbert said. "Osmond wants to offer the Spear in exchange for Miss Longueville. Not that I disagree with his logic, but something about this whole affair just rubs me the wrong way. I have some suspicions..."

"Fouquet had an accomplice," they both said simultaneously.

"Who was it anyway?" Lordgenome asked after the gust of laughter passed. "Was it a servant from the Academy?"

"No," Colbert replied. "Miss Siesta, bless her heart, managed to vouch for everyone. The servants here have... very high self-preservative capabilities."

Lordgenome chuckled as they continued looking over the golem's footsteps, the sandy rubble that was once a golem cleaved by Louise's Void Blade and then blown to powder by her Explosion spells...

_I know something's here to find, but I don't know what I'm looking for here exactly,_ Lordgenome thought. _First I thought traces of the accomplice could be found here, but the servants have been spoken for, the students were in the opposite wing, but..._

He saw something out of the corner of his eye and went to it.

Some of the sand appeared to be discolored as he saw a spot near where the golem was destroyed. Apparently, the golem stood at an angle that its silhouette still marked the landscape when Louise willed the thing to Explode.

And now, he gingerly parted the odd-colored sand, taking a bit of it towards his nostril, and sniffed slowly.

"Found anything there?" Colbert asked. "You've been sitting there for a while now."

"Blood," Lordgenome answered, "Fouquet's blood."

"Really?" the professor asked. "How?"

"Louise cast something we called 'Void Blade' - hit the golem, also hit Fouquet. But..." Lordgenome continued, "if Fouquet took a hostage, shouldn't there be more blood here?"

"That would depend on where the hostage was," Colbert explained. "If you had a golem and a hostage, you'd probably keep the hostage near you so you can focus on controlling the golem. Alternately, you'd want to carve out a compartment in the golem to store valuables or hostages."

The Spiral Knight closed his eyes and carefully went over the battle. "No... no, there was no compartment. Louise nearly cut straight through that thing's torso. The hostage should have also been hit with my mistress' spell. There should be more blood here."

"If that's the case, then where's the hostage?"

Lordgenome suddenly swallowed a lump in his throat.

_Fouquet was injured from the attempt, and took a hostage. He's going to kill her whether he gets the Spear or not._

_**This is not good.**_

"What's the matter? You went pale all of a sudden."

Lordgenome didn't bother answering the question, as he stood up and immediately ran off back to the castle, leaving a bewildered professor behind.

* * *

><p>"Headmaster Osmond, there's a Lordgenome who urgently wishes to see you," the new secretary - a cute young thing named Allyria - said.<p>

"Hmm, what could he want? Send him in, dear," the old mage said.

A disheveled Lordgenome strode into the Headmaster's office.

"Headmaster, bad news."

"Oh? Is this about the little... what did Jean call it... forensic investigation he volunteered to do?"

The former Spiral King nodded. "If we're going to get to Longueville in time, we need to hand over the Spear now. Fouquet was injured in his attempt to steal the Spear. I think he may take it out on her."

Osmond's eyes widened. "You're not serious, are you?"

"Dead serious. I've seen this happen before. What's the ransom note say?"

"It said, wait a minute," the headmaster stopped here for a bit, "how did you know there was a ransom note?"

"Again," Lordgenome explained, "I've seen more than my fair share of this thing happening. Did it specify a time and place?"

"It said," Osmond intoned, bringing out the note and reading, "'bring the Spear of Destiny to the village of Etruria the next night, or Longueville dies.'"

"Did they specify who would do the handing over?" Lordgenome asked, to which the headmaster shook his head.

A chilling grin came onto the Spiral King's visage at that gesture.

"Leave this matter to me. I will have Longueville back safe and sound, and this Crumbling Dirt's head on a spike," Lordgenome declared, before beginning to turn to the doorway.

"You seem a bit more agitated now," the headmaster mused.

"Foquet owes me a talking sword," the Spiral Knight explained, "and that's that."

As Osmond saw the mint green-haired young man walking out the door, he gave a grin of his own.

"Such passion," he thought aloud, "so very much like that sword's first master. Has he figured it out yet?"

* * *

><p>"You're giving Fouquet the Spear? Personally?" Colbert asked, in disbelief at how impulsive Louise's familiar seemed to be dealing with the battle.<p>

"The note didn't say who'd do the giving," Lordgenome clarified, besides, back where I come from, they call this thing 'entrapment'."

He finished putting on the hooded white cloak, strapping the Spear to his back, disregarding the familar feeling of...

...Lordgenome shook his head, there was simply no time for nostalgic thoughts. According to the professor, Etruria was an hour's horse ride away from the capital - with his abilities, he could get there well before nightfall and spring the trap for this Crumbling Dirt.

Only the best of the best thieves would know something was amiss, and Lordgenome would take full advantage of that. Besides, Fouquet was injured, and injured people tend to not focus completely on the task at hand because of their injuries.

He walked up to the Academy gates, revealed his face to the guards, who gave him a nod for good luck before opening the gates...

...and he was off and running to the village of Etruria, around several kilometers away, if his estimate was correct.

_When the Academy's out of sight, I'll start pumping Spiral Energy into my legs,_ he thought.

He kept a good pace throughout the afternoon, but as soon as he saw the sky turn orange, he decided to screw subtlety.

With a bellow of "OVERLOAD!", he took off like a shot to where the town would be.

* * *

><p>Back at the Academy, two girls were slowly watching the blue afternoon sky change its hue at the day's incoming end.<p>

"It's getting dark, and my Familiar's not here yet," Louise said. "I thought he said he'd be back by dusk?"

"Occupied?" Tabitha asked, looking up from her book.

The two of them decided to wander the halls when they ran into Kirche.

"You'll never guess what I heard, Valliere, Tabitha," she began right after catching her breath. "The Spear's been taken from the vault."

**"WHAT?"** Louise roared.

"Yeah, it's kind of a mystery to me, too. Word around the soldiers outside is that Fouquet took a hostage and demands the Spear of Destiny in exchange."

"Damn it," the pinkette swore, "and they're gonna give it to that thief, just like that?"

"There's the odd part. Someone's going to make the trade. Said he was going to Etruria..." the redhead continued before trailing off, her thoughts going back to...

"Oh, Founder. It's Lordgenome."

"What? Why would my familiar..." and then she remembered Derf.

"He's going to kill Fouquet," Kirche said, her voice cracking. "This is personal for him. Tabitha, could you?"

But her request came a bit too late as a gust of wind came through the abruptly-opened hallway window - when they turned to the source, Tabitha was already on board her dragon and beckoning to them to ride along.

"You called the others?"

"Will follow later," Tabitha answered, her voice nearly a whisper due to the wind. "Found a carriage. Get on."

The servants arrived mere seconds later to find an empty hallway with one of the larger windows open.

* * *

><p>Lordgenome's arrival in Etruria was without incident. A small farming town owned by a noble whose specialty in Blood Magic gave him a reputation as a vampire, Etruria wasn't that much of a standout, the people there were the usual peasant fare, who tended to not notice the affairs of noblemen who somehow stumbled onto the place... in short, the perfect place for a thief to hide out, or a kidnapper to make an exchange of ransom for the person abducted.<p>

Imagine the astonishment of Lordgenome that upon his arrival to the town inn, he had to run into the person he least expected to see. _Green hair, red cloak, glasses... it can't be. Longueville is here? And fancy free?_ Lordgenome thought as his eyes narrowed at the sight. _I guess that figures. If she's not the victim, she would most likely the accomplice._

_Contact?_ Lordgenome asked himself. _I think I'll give her an out where she "somehow managed to escape the clutches of the vile Fouquet", then see if that rat bastard's gonna show up from the shadows... and after that, game, set and match._

He continued watching Longueville from the corner table of the inn, thinking very carefully on how he'd make his approach without anything sudden happening - and mentally going through every possibility to cover all the bases, so to speak.

When it came to apprehending people, there were only mistakes - mistakes of the past you want to avoid, and then you ended up with mistakes of your own because of Murphy's Law.

Lordgenome knew this. Had it down to a science, even. Batted even better than a lot of his rivals and contemporaries, too.

But as he figured out - as soon as the boy who seemed like a different version of him drilled a hole through him - when it comes to things like this, nobody bats a thousand.

He stood and began to make his way to Longueville, weaving his way through the eating and drinking patrons, and then taking a seat at the bar - the seat closest to Longueville.

"Don't make any sudden movement," he whispered as he eased his hand over hers. "I was sent here on the headmaster's behalf. How are you holding up?"

"Fine," she replied, her voice likewise low. "I managed to escape from Fouquet just a short time ago."

"How?"

"He was injured in attempting to get the S-whatever it is he wanted."

A twinkle of Lordgenome's eyes were all he allowed himself as he heard her stop halfway through what she was about to say. _**Got you.**_

"Well, with you safe and sound, I'll be taking you back to the Academy. Headmaster Osmond can take care of Fouquet at his own time."

"Thank you... I'm sorry, I never got your name. You're Miss Valliere's familiar, right?"

He nodded. "Lordgenome."

"Lead the way," Longueville said gratefully, easing herself out of the bar stool, paying for her tab, and making her way toward the doorway...

...but when she stepped over the threshold, her foot snagged onto something, causing her to use her left arm to try and break her fall... and then red filled her vision.

Tears threatened to leak out of her eyes, but she wouldn't shed them. Not when she was so close to getting away with it. But...

...the young man the students formerly called the Zero was looking at her intently.

A bit too intently for her comfort, he must have caught her stiffen...

...or not, as he had eased her back up, and covered the front as they made their way out of the town of Etruria. Longueville let the panicked breath she didn't know she held out slowly, and swallowed the lump in her throat that wasn't there before her nearly fatal slip.

They had barely crossed the town gate when Lordgenome turned to her.

"Longueville's an odd name for a woman," he thought aloud.

"My name is Matilda," Longueville replied, resisting the urge to grab onto her left shoulder, and thanking the Founder for the time of day plus the color of her outfit.

"So it is, Miss Matilda," the familiar said in acknowledgment. "So it is. Tell me, did Fouquet tell you anything about the Spear and why he needed it?"

"No," and here Lordgenome had to suppress a flinch. Her body language seemed to actively deflect any attempt at detection, but the answer she gave was totally innocent... she really didn't know about the Spear.

"That's all right," Lordgenome explained. "You were a hostage, anyway. Did he say anything else that might be important?"

"No, he didn't," Matilda replied, "but he did say a few things about why he does it - you know, steal... you're not from around here, right?"

"A good observation. What's your point?"

"My point is, the nobles treat everyone else like second-class citizens. Just because they can use magic," Matilda said rather spitefully as they walked on, "Fouquet only victimized the nobles, said he'd give back to the poor."

"Like a Robin Hood of Halkeginia, I presume?" the Spiral Knight asked.

"Who or what is a Robin Hood?"

"Long story. If I was Fouquet, I'd cause unrest. Not just from simple theft. Something more... concrete. Enough for people's faith in the system to collapse. Then give them something that can give them hope, hope that they can make something better for themselves, for their children, for their children's children... that sort of thing. I don't know for sure. Which reminds me, you don't look like you're completely okay. Fouquet do anything to you?"

"Nothing much," Matilda answered with a grimace, "was a bit rough with me, but nothing I can't handle."

The sudden fire in her eyes intrigued Louise's familiar. "Someone you're working hard for, Miss Matilda?"

He nearly missed the glint in her eye. "Some kids. They're the ones who suffer most from the caprices of these... 'nobles'. There's... someone else too. I think of her as a younger sister, of sorts."

"Good to see the will to live for them is strong in you, Miss Matilda, but really, you don't look very good," Lordgenome said. "Let me take a look at that; maybe put on some first aid..."

He had barely touched her left shoulder when she recoiled with a visible grimace of pain, several tears sparkling in the moonlight.

_Tears? That must be a grievous injury she suffered... wait, an **injury?**_

His mind started to go over the events of last night in double time.

_The hostage couldn't have been injured that way. Neither would the accomplice._

_So that meant..._

"Where are you taking Longueville?" a voice roared from the shadows of the woods nearby, rousing Lordgenome from his thoughts.

"Get down!" he yelled at her before stepping to where the voice came from, hastily-repaired sword in hand. As he flashed forward, he saw a cloaked silhouette.

_**Fouquet!**_

He slashed with Derflinger, only to cleave a boulder in twain... a boulder hastily made to look like a human's... in the moonlight.

Lordgenome wheeled around to see where Matilda might have taken cover... no trace of her.

His mind was working in overdrive now.

_No one else was on that golem. No hostage, no accomplice._

_If that's the case... Longueville is Matilda is Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt._

_All I need to do now is..._

His thoughts came to an abrupt and complete stop as he threw himself to the side to avoid being flattened by a stone golem's massive fist.

Right then and there, he cursed himself for not acting on his instincts sooner - he was so hung up on the thought that Longueville was the accomplice and not the Crumbling Dirt herself, so much that the hunter had become the hunted.

And with another hammer blow, the golem swung its rocky fists right into Lordgenome's guard, not even leaving time for him to apologize to Derflinger for calling him to battle in such a dilapidated state as he held up the sword to defend, only to be flung into the air.

As soon as he made a safe landing thanks to the application of some Spiral Power, Lordgenome now understood.

This wasn't a play fight anymore.

Even more so when he could no longer feel the Spear on his back. Longueville - no, Fouquet - must have taken it while he was caught off-guard with the revelations of the night.

_Well, tough luck,_ Lordgenome, he told himself. _Just gotta go with the flow here this time. Sorry, Derf. Gonna need you for one final dance._ Hefting the sword into a stance, Lordgenome grinned with the knowledge that Fouquet was going to silence him, and with a word, revved the battle up to a fever pitch.

_**"Overload."**_

* * *

><p>"Why can't I call on my Spiral Power?" Lordgenome asked himself.<p>

The fight - if he would call it that - had been ridiculously one-sided. Despite Fouquet being injured, she masterfully controlled a smaller version of the golem she used back at the raid on the Academy. And she didn't lose any power, either - she knew how to enchant her golem at just the right moment to strike for extra strength, speed, defense...

...If he wasn't fighting for his life right now, he would be rather impressed at his opponent's dexterity in spite of her wound.

Slowly, painfully - those glancing blows did amazing amounts of damage to him, he noted - the former Spiral Knight stood up and took up a stance with the horribly mangled sword yet again.

Fouquet didn't stop to monologue or tell him anything, earning her another bit of respect from Louise's familiar. The only gesture she allowed was to level her better hand toward the target - and with a flash of its eyes, the golem obliged.

Pounding massive footprints into the meadow as it charged, the golem closed the distance between itself and its target, took to the air...

...and came down like a meteor with its metallic fists extended, aiming to flatten the target in one fell swoop.

_Fast!_ Lordgenome thought. _Desperation must be fueling her beyond her limits! Can't dodge in time..._

He held up the sword in an attempt to buy even a moment to gather his Spiral Power to make a powered-up backstep... just a small moment, enough for him to...

The fists crashed, the land quaked, and when the dust settled, Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt allowed herself to gloat... just a little.

"I know you take a second to gather willpower to yourself to move faster. Not too bad, to be honest. I even thought of trying to convert you to my cause, but sadly..."

Her monologue was interrupted by a long and painful howl that came from the bottom of the crater and spread outward like the shockwave of an explosion.

And then the red came again, in force.

* * *

><p>By the time his rage faded, the golem had taken a few dents, but was otherwise unharmed - Fouquet was breathing rather heavily... but when he took a count of his Spiral Power?<p>

Nearly gone. Not enough to keep up the pace he started.

And Derf...

...was dead.

Lordgenome knew that whatever sentience the talking sword had was gone when he too was gripped with desperation and raised the sword up in a guard to buy some time for a retreat.

And then... apparently, he went berserk, wasting his Spiral Power on a frontal assault that he knew now was useless.

A knee buckled, and he knew that it was over.

_Nothing's over, a dainty whisper came over the wildflowers, caressing him familiarly..._

_**Nia?**_

_Father... you are..._

_**...a member of the Great Gurren Brigade!** _a boisterous voice reverberated in Lordgenome's head.

_Who are you?_

_**Open that mind of yours and listen good, Spiral King! I'm the biggest, baddest, meanest leader of the Great Gurren Brigade - Kamina, at your service!**_

_We're here. We're all here,_ a familiar voice continued.

_But... how?_ he asked, confused.

_You became a part of all of us, Father,_ Nia answered. _And now, we are all a part of you. The Great Gurren Brigade lives on. Through you._

_Let the Spiral Spin on once more,_ the Great Gurren Brigade intoned, and Louise's familiar suddenly jolted, as if he had discovered his fourth wind in the fight.

The dullness in Lordgenome's eyes that remained since last night gradually vanished, his eyes returning to sharp spirals swirling, surrounding his pupils with a kaleidoscope of power. With the return of his will to continue, he had finally acknowledged that as long as he carried the Spiral, he wouldn't be alone.

He'd never be alone.

"Still... standing?" Fouquet asked, her voice quavering in fear and disbelief as to how this boy could take so much punishment. "What kind of thing are you?"

"Who the **hell..."** Lordgenome whispered as he picked up the inert blade, filling it with enough Spiral Power as he could to use his final trump card.

**"...DO YOU THINK I AM?!"** he continued, raising his voice as he took a few unsteady steps forward and then RUSHED at Fouquet and the golem, his steps taking on the rapid pace of one who was completely assured that this one sequence would finish the fight decisively.

He stopped for a second, and when the fist came for him, he flashed upward, releasing Spiral Power in a burst to boost his air time.

"Derf! Lend me your power... **ONE FINAL TIME!"** the Spiral Knight roared as he tensed and threw the sword at the golem.

"What good is that going to do?" Fouquet roared back, but any further retort from her stopped in her throat as the bent sword broke into two pieces of angular metal, circling around her construct until they sliced deep into the stone arms and legs, pinning it in place.

"Founder, what is that...?" she asked as Lordgenome raised his left hand and gathered every last bit of his Spiral Power into a...

_...was that a drill?_

_**DEAR SWEET FOUNDER.**_

_**THE DRILL JUST GREW TO TEN, NO, FIFTEEN TIMES THE BOY'S HEIGHT.**_

**"Giga..."**

The drill began to spin as Lordgenome whispered the word.

**"...DRILL..."**

The Earth mage tried to force her golem to break free, but whatever magic remained in the chunks of metal that was formerly a talking sword seemed to be actively thwarting her efforts.

Ignoring the impediments jammed in her golem's limbs, Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt turned around, only to see the large drill flying towards her golem... this was perhaps yet another moment that she felt true fear, when she heard her opponent scream...

_**"...BREAKER!"**_

The large drill burst through the magic-enhanced stone like it wasn't even there.

And then everything went white.

* * *

><p>Matilda went back to the land of the conscious feeling all the aches and pains of the last twenty-four hours. That golem used up all of her remaining willpower, and yet...<p>

...She had the advantage most of the fight, but it seemed like Louise's familiar habitually pulled miracles out of his ass on a regular basis.

_In hindsight, I should have noticed,_ Matilda thought. _But I can still salvage this. I still have the Spear..._

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the moonlight illuminate the boy who destroyed her golem in one shot taking measured strides toward her. The spirals in his green eyes shone eerily, as was the reddish aura of power that only rolled off him in wisps now. Yet still, he took the same measured pace, stalking her as if she was some piece of meat.

_A piece of **meat...**_

...Matilda was suddenly caught with the sudden strength borne of outrage and the last burst of adrenaline, and she stood back up, hoisting the Spear she had gone through so much trouble to take to her client...

"Stay back. I have the Spear. Don't make me use it on you," she snarled, pointing the Spear of Destiny toward Louise's familiar.

He stopped.

Smiled.

And then burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Matilda asked. "Answer me!"

"This is," he replied flatly, extending out his hand, and Fouquet's jaw nearly unhinged itself as she saw the tip of the spear wriggle free off the stick and fly toward him. "For your information, this is a Core Drill. It does many things that I won't bother describing to you. Why?"

She tried to swing the stick at him with her good hand, but the former Spear of Destiny simply bounced off his head harmlessly.

Despair.

Matilda simply sank onto the ground in defeat, her legs giving way, and waited for her sins to catch up to her, in the form of the boy standing before her with murder in his eyes.

"Because I'm here to take my pound of flesh," Lordgenome continued, and now he was holding her collar, cocking his fist with the spearhead back, filling it with an odd red coloration, "this is for Derflinger, you thieving little..."

"I don't think so, buddy."

Both Matilda and Lordgenome stopped short as they looked around to where the voice came from.

"You're already holding me, buddy."

"Derf?!" Lordgenome asked, completely taken off balance by the sudden intrusion.

"One and the same."

That was all Matilda saw before her vision completely went black, and she collapsed again into the dirt.

* * *

><p>She opened her eyes with a start.<p>

_Am I alive?_ she asked herself. _How can this be, that boy was really going to kill me!_

"Oh! Miss Longueville! Thank goodness, you're awake," the maid who also doubled as an assistant to the nurse - Siesta something-or-other her name was, to Matilda's recall - said. "I'll go get the others. Louise and her familiar brought you here. I'm sure they want to know that the hostage they rescued is doing fine."

"Wait, I-" Matilda tried to stop her, but a sharp jolt of pain through her shoulder had her gritting her teeth as she lay back on the bed.

By the time the spasms had ended, she turned her head up...

...and met the green spirals that were the eyes of her enemy.

The man who saved her.

And the man who'd tell the world of her identity, then leave her to the predatory nobles.

So much for her grand adventure... her rage against the machine.

"Relax," Lordgenome said after a few seconds had passed. "I'm not going to finish the job."

She sniffed disdainfully, "Will you hold your knowledge over me like a sword? Death would be a release next to this pathetic existence."

"The choice isn't yours, for now," he replied. "I didn't save you for any particular reason you might think of."

Lordgenome looked away for a moment, taking in the window view before turning back to the secretary and librarian. "I want to see it."

"See what?"

"Nobles. At their worst. I want you to be my eyes, Miss Matilda."

"And what else would you have me do?" she asked.

"Hunt them down. Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt is dead. Fouquet the Bounty Hunter is born."

"Easy for you to say -"

"Indeed," the young man said, interrupting her. "I know you're fighting not just for yourself. I sensed them - the children. You said they were cast aside by the nobility, right?"

Matilda slowly nodded.

"I'm also doing this for them. No one wants to tell them that their Aunt Matilda met an ignoble end... to break their hearts yet again."

"Why so concerned about those children?"

"It's the right thing to do. I am Louise's familiar, her knight, her shadow. If I can show her the world and what she needs to do in it, maybe there won't be any more of those orphans you keep seeing."

"A lofty dream," Matilda said. "Can you carry it through to the end?"

His pointer finger suddenly appearing right between her eyes was the answer. "Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the last of the Great Gurren Brigade."

Lordgenome's smile seemed wider and a lot more confident as he withdrew the pointer. "But now? Not anymore."

"You don't mean..." Matilda said, not trusting her voice any longer after that.

"...welcome to the Great Gurren Brigade," Lordgenome said, patting the head of his newest recruit.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, a girl and her familiar were talking, the familiar setting aside the wooden spoons and forks while the girl washed the dishes.<p>

"The money Big Sis promised hasn't arrived yet," the girl said as she wiped off the last of the wooden plates, "I can stretch the budget for a week or two at most, but after that..."

"Psh. If you'd only let me out of here and let me do what I was made to do, you wouldn't be scratching for whatever to feed those little brothers and sisters of yours. They keep growing in number, too."

"It can't be helped, Familiar..." the girl replied. "War's over the horizon. Albion, Reconquista... we'll be seeing a lot more of these kids in the coming days."

"So give me the word already. Bandits abound around these parts, and I've seen them run their eyes all over you. I'd have carved their eyeballs out for their insulting gazes, but so far, you haven't let me."

"And for that, I thank you, Lifdrassil-san," she whispered, "because even then, many times, what meager finances we have - or more - would have been lost, had you not been here..."

"Thus, I need you to give me the word. There are bounties to be taken. You've seen me at work, you KNOW I can take care of myself out there."

"What about here?"

"I've taken some steps. They won't be heading here anytime soon," the man said, still grinning. _Though you wouldn't like me lining up their skulls on spikes right outside the orphanage to keep bandits away,_he thought. "Besides, we can read each other's minds - if you're in trouble, I'll be there in a flash."

"Thank you... and please come home safely."

"I always do," and the man they called the Lifdrassil walked away from the room, twirling the odd-shaped knife he carried with him upon his summoning as he whistled a tune...

* * *

><p><strong>author's note:<strong> And now we have the first big divergence from canon. Ain't I a stinker?

Also, Matilda thinks she's being blackmailed with her identity as the Crumbling Dirt. However, as Great Gurren Brigade members go, Lordgenome might be the brains, but he's also as straightforward as the rest of them.


	6. Sixth Spiral: Upping the Irons

_disclaimer:_ Again, none of this is mine.

Here's the next chapter: some plot, some events, and most of all, **MOAR LIFDRASSIL**. To those in Spacebattles and who managed to get who Lifdrassil was on the very first try, congratulations! Wonder how the immortal beastman will cope with his new state in life? Moreover, from where in the timeline was he snatched from with the Familiar Summoning Ritual?

The answers, dear readers, will be coming up shortly as we go on this wild ride.

So without further ado, here we go: **LAZENGANN, OVERLOAD!**

What the hell do you think this fanfic is?!

* * *

><p><em><strong>From Zero to Infinity<strong>_

**A Zero no Tsukaima / Familiar of Zero and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Crossover Fanfic**

* * *

><p><strong>Sixth Spiral: Upping the Irons<strong>

* * *

><p>"It appears we are at an impasse, Princess," the headmaster of Tristain's Academy of Magic began as he ran a careful hand over his flowing, obviously well cared-for beard. "The Academy has long been a place where potential mages of all nationalities can learn the magic arts, and substantial contributions from your coffers can naught but attract everyone else's attention."<p>

"Still, it is not your intentions I imply as questionable, knowing as I do your ties to one of my students - Miss Valliere - but that of what the other nations are thinking. If present trends continue..."

"...Reconquista," Princess Henrietta de Tristain replied.

"That's right," Headmaster Osmond replied with a nod. "I will, however, admit that this Academy has suffered more damage than I thought at the hands of Fouquet, which is why I will allow you half of your intended donation to the school itself."

Henrietta's eyes brightened briefly. "If you're only taking half of my offer, where will you get the other half?"

"School's closed for renovations, yes? What I had in mind was to send groups of these students out into the world, to do their share of errands and send a portion of their earnings back here... supervised by school staff, of course."

"You'll have your students go adventuring?" Henrietta asked, trying but failing to conceal the horror that suddenly jumped into her voice.

"All instructors to accompany the groups of students are Square-class mages. Why, one of my former secretaries and the librarian of this place - Matilda da Albion de la Longueville - will be escorting your friend and her classmates."

"Isn't she..." the princess began, quirking an eyebrow at the mention of the name, but before she could say any further, Osmond nodded.

"Yes, but do not worry," he replied. "The one who defeated her will be watching over her. You know, your friend's familiar?"

"How could I not?" Henrietta replied, a slight tinge going over her face as she remembered the sherbet-colored hair, the soft features, his radiant smile...

_Bad Henrietta! She's your childhood friend's familiar! _she thought.

_**You mean "good Henrietta",**_ a voice in her head countered. _**I'm sure you'd be first in line if the boy asks for some comfort if anything happened to Louise. Let's not forget, she looks to the boy like a brother. If that's not a chance for us, I don't know what is!**_

"Princess?" the headmaster asked.

Henrietta snapped out of her thoughts immediately. "Headmaster…? My apologies, my mind wandered somewhere."

"So do you approve? The lower years will be here and assisting in the reconstruction while the upper years will be out in the field, using their magic in real life while under supervision of an experienced instructor."

"Yes," the princess replied. "I do believe that is enough for me. I shall get the papers signed up immediately."

"Thank you, Princess Henrietta."

"And I likewise give you my thanks, Headmaster Osmond."

As soon as the princess made her exit, Osmond giggled. _Mind wandered, my foot. I think I know what you're trying to get at, Princess. If I recall correctly, Wales is younger than you by a few years… that explains a lot._

As soon as the Princess made it to her room, she let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding in, and looked to her bodyguard Agnes looking over a few documents.

"How goes the Kingdom, Agnes?"

"We're in terrible shape, Princess," Agnes replied wearily. "It's only thanks to some timely damage control that we managed to keep the Foquet incident from getting out of Tristain."

"I don't see how bad that was," Henrietta observed, "you managed to stop it before it got out of hand, after all."

"That's not the worst part. Our army is stretched too thin taking care of the orc incursions in our territory."

"Have our soldiers done what I've asked?"

"Yes," Agnes said, unfurling a colored map. "The highest concentrations of orcs are in and around Tarbes. I dare say we'll have to call in all of the army soon, and wipe that blight off our country, Princess."

"Make it so, Agnes," Henrietta whispered darkly. "The sooner we can bring Tristain back to its feet, the better."

With a bow, the musketeer cleaned up the documents and left to the next room to ostensibly relay her orders to the Blackhand, her personal "problem-solving squad". Meanwhile, Henrietta sighed as she sank deeper into the cushioned chair, thinking about how and why nobody ever did anything about Tristain's orc problem… or maybe that was the point of it all?

* * *

><p>Three nights had passed since the Headmaster teamed up the students and sent them off to adventuring, the Academy getting a cut from their profits in exchange for providing them skilled instructors to help, both in magic and the practicalities of everyday living.<p>

Kircheis grinned. One of the Academy maids apparently had an uncanny head for household management that even the Germanian's teammates deferred to her when it came to mundane things like how to gather, hunt, and fish. _If she keeps this up, she'll end up as a majordomo in some high-ranking noble's house. Not too bad a fate for her, considering._

The sheltered nobles in their group immediately made themselves known, and took to learning how to live off the land quickly or risk being a potential liability to the team.

"There! How's that, Miss Siesta?" Montmorency asked.

"It's great," the maid replied. "But you have to add a bit more room if you intend to be in the company of someone during the night, because we don't have that many tents..."

Both Guiche and Monmon turned red at that.

"Still," the maid continued, not even skipping a beat through her advice as she didn't notice what the implications of what she said were, "it's not like we'll all sleep at the same time; someone has to keep a watch here. It's also not fair to have Sylphid and Lordgenome do all the watch duty."

"Yes, of course," the potion-maker said. "I will have my Familiar do its part as well."

"Likewise, Verdandi will also help," Guiche added.

"Thank you. Now, let's continue; up next on the list is making a cooking fire..." Siesta began, but as the two were about to whip out their wands, the maid's hands stopped them, her head shaking no, "...manually."

The two blondes swallowed a sudden lump in their throats.

* * *

><p>"Look out!" the unexpected voice came as Lordgenome's training took over. The orc never stood a chance as the Gandalfr whipped around with almost unheard-of speed, the broadsword in his hand a silver blur as it followed suit, cleaving the creature in twain.<p>

As he cleaned his sword off the orc's blood, Lordgenome looked around - the source of the voice wasn't revealing herself. Another orc came charging in, but they always planted their feet before swinging; _a fatal mistake,_ the Spiral Knight thought as he simply whipped the sword up into a thrust and crushed throat and spine with the orc's own momentum as soon as the rampaging beast put down a massive foot.

Simple physics, really, but who could have been the one to help him? He need not have wondered, as the last orc fell from the sky in a heap, its neck broken.

"Kyuui!" Sylphid said in triumph as the hunt came to an end - now came the adventurer's time-honored tradition of stripping the corpses for any valuables they may be carrying.

As dragon and Spiral Knight got down to business, Lordgenome's mind was working. _The only one on my side here is Sylphid. So as unlikely as it may be, she was the one who warned me of the orc about to backstab me. Now, how do I go proving this dragon does talk?_

He need not have put any effort into it, because as soon as he started rifling through the things of the orc nearest him, a voice cut through the forest.

"Kyuui! A shiny!"

Shaking his head, Lordgenome continued his looting with a sigh. _So much for scientific method,_ he thought - and somehow, his thoughts went to his master, who was now being tutored by the very woman who had almost killed them both.

_I think I'll keep this on a need-to-know basis with my Master. Louise would probably not like it if one of her teachers summoned golems and stole things for a living. Still, Matilda teaches very well - Louise is flourishing under her guidance. If she had been the one teaching Louise, I wonder how skilled would my little spitfire Master be now, her "handicap" notwithstanding?_

The orc troop yielded a modest stash of gold - enough to call this day's adventuring a success. Still, many things worried the mint-haired Gandalfr... _these orcs look a lot like beastmen that evolved over the millennia. If this was a Spiral planet, then someone must have done research to make beastmen, then took it in a different direction. My craft emphasized both power of mind and body - these creatures have very little resembling intelligence. Moreover, how do they stop the degeneration? Was it banished through evolution? Perhaps they found a way… but that would mean…_

Thoughts of other, more repulsive actions of his kind flitted through his mind before he banished them and leveled his gaze at the blue dragon, giving Sylphid a nod.

_There's a lot more to this world than meets the eye. I'll get to the bottom of this... eventually._

* * *

><p>A silhouette loomed over the sleeping pink-haired girl as she slept soundly through the night. Unlike the newly-discovered confidence she exuded while awake, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere looked every bit the vulnerable young girl she still was while asleep.<p>

All of that was lost to the intruder, who reached into its cloak and revealed a dagger that gleamed in the moonlight streaming into the opening of the tent...

...the arm was raised, tensed to bring the weapon down...

...but nothing happened.

The intruder tried to move, but found out it was immobile - and when the tent flapped open, with everyone going to Louise's rescue from the sound of the commotion within her tent, the team gaped.

Lordgenome was holding the new instructor at bay, a hand wreathed with green fire gripping her face, Matilda's attempts at trying to swing the dagger at the Gandalfr going weaker and weaker, until...

"THIS ONE'S NOT YOURS ANYMORE, SO BEGONE!" Lordgenome roared at the teacher, glaring daggers at her as though she was someone else. **"OVERLOAD!"**

That was when the green fire on his hand consumed Miss Matilda's head, burning her without actually burning her - and then her mouth opened, an unholy, pained, and masculine scream echoing to the night sky for several long seconds...

...and then she was silent.

He withdrew the hand and saw her previously-dimmed eyes were finally clear.

"Have you come back to us, Miss Matilda?" Lordgenome asked quietly.

"...Founder, I don't believe this..." Matilda whispered. "What have I done?"

"Nothing, yet," Lordgenome replied with a wry grin, "other than show off my Master's taste in sleepwear."

Matilda turned to Louise and her eyes widened. "This… is impossible... but how? Why?"

"Why you're still alive? The Great Gurren Brigade takes care of its own," Lordgenome answered the former thief rather intimately, brushing his cheek against hers as he whispered his reasons, before backing up and raising his voice toward everyone else. "Crisis averted, let's all go back to bed. Hopefully by tomorrow, we'll be halfway to Tarbes and not miss what Siesta calls their 'coming of age ceremony'."

When everyone had nodded their assent and began walking away, Matilda made to go as well, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks.

"You know who is behind this, don't you?" he asked the former thief.

"I do," Matilda replied, "but I couldn't tell you. Not in front of her."

The Spiral Knight's eyes narrowed. "Why stop Louise from knowing this?"

"Knowing her?" the earth mage replied. "She'd rush headlong into the matter. This requires a deft touch. You have your own subtlety, which is why I cast my lot in with you... leader."

"Fair enough," Lordgenome answered. "Give me something I can use."

"...Reconquista."

The spirals in Lordgenome's eyes began to glow an angry crimson.

_That word again. Is this some kind of conspiracy? Matilda hasn't said anything of the sort, however. Maybe that's her game; she won't actually finger her benefactor directly… a signal, a stance, body language, perhaps? Yes..._

The rest of the journey was uneventful and rather informative for all the students gathered, proof that while magic did give you the noble title, earning it was a different matter altogether.

* * *

><p><em>Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere dreamed of spirals.<em>

_She was seated in some sort of throne, with servants at her every beck and call - when the ceiling caved in from the sudden entrance of an oddly-shaped red golem, a girl emerging from the head._

"_F****r, why are you d**ng t*is?"_

_She could not trust her voice to answer._

"_Believe it or not, I have done this to keep the human race alive." _

_Even her voice sounded different._

"_K**pi*g th*m h*led u* und*rg**u*d? W*y?"_

"_Best you not know these answers. Greater men have fallen into madness for the reason why."_

_She swung her wand, and a tiny explosion knocked the girl off the red golem, its hands quickly catching her._

"_So you are the one who tries to rise against me. Come, then, and show me the power of your spiral!"_

_Red flooded through Louise, and the dream abruptly cut off..._

* * *

><p>"Something's not right here," Siesta whispered as the group made their way through the gates of Tarbes. Several weeks of adventuring had them well above the required amount of booty Headmaster Osmond needed to rebuild the campus from the failed attempt at the Spear of Destiny, but the rumor of Tarbes' annual "Coming of Age Ceremony" being stopped by the town's new mayor was... odd.<p>

"Miss Siesta, you did say that there was a festival about to happen here. So why does this place look like a ghost town?" Matilda asked. "I can remember passing by Tarbes around this time of year some time ago, and people all over Tristain - and beyond - had gone to see the celebrations with this town's Coming of Age Ceremony."

What she didn't mention were all the red flags raised in her mind as she saw the downtrodden and nearly murderous gazes being leveled towards the group by the townsfolk - if Siesta hadn't been the one up in front, they would have turned into a lynch mob easily.

Even odder still was the reaction of the maid named Siesta, as she had said that the prosperity of their town depended on the ceremony, and that her older sister Reina would be leading it this year...

"Who is the mayor of Tarbes now?" Lordgenome asked as they walked into the dispirited town, its inhabitants not even bothering to spare second glances at the new arrivals.

Kircheis came running up to them, her natural charisma giving her a great deal of talent at getting information. "Some nobleman named Lord Insen Mott, he deposed the previous mayor. It looked like a small thing he blew out of proportion to gain power - didn't catch all the details, but..."

"The lord of this town recently died," Siesta explained further, "the nobles appointed Lord Mott here."

Matilda sniffed disdainfully. Now that was either chucking a bad egg in the middle of nowhere or putting him on the spot where he'd self-destruct with the minimum amount of damage. But the sensation of _wrongness_ still prevailed heavily over the air, and the former thief started to wonder why.

"Mott?" Montmorency asked. "Lord Insen Mott? I heard he was thrown off his last fief for a variety of indiscretions. Even before, there was always something... off about him, my mother said. She also extended the same warning to the de Gramont family."

"...and now he's the mayor of this town?" Louise asked, her expression suddenly hardening. "This looks like trouble. Lead us to your home, Miss Siesta."

With a nod, the group made its way to Siesta's house, the former Spiral Knight catching only a fleeting glimpse of Louise's expression. _That's strange - she almost looks like..._

_...looks like... me._

_**Don't let it bother you, boss. It's part of the Familiar contract.**_

_Explain it to me when I get a chance to, Derf, _Lordgenome told the glowing Core Drill. _Louise's demeanor as of late has been troubling._

_**Sure will, boss.**_

As the group made their way across town, Lordgenome, meanwhile, had his thoughts on something else entirely.

_We'd been fighting orcs nonstop ever since leaving the vicinity of the castle. And I've heard from the palace guard that they'd cut down a few bands of orcish invaders not too long ago. The closer we get to Tarbes, the more orcs we run into._

_Is Tarbes the answer to my orc question?_

He had been so engrossed in thought that he had not noticed that Siesta had arrived at their destination - a rather large inn.

"Father, open up, it's me, Siesta," the maid declared, and the door swung open with unbelievable haste.

"Thank the Founder you're here!" Siesta's father said. "You couldn't have come at a more opportune time. They've taken Reina."

"Reina?"

"Why?"

Siesta's mother shook her head as she sobbed into her hands. "It was Mott. He was here just minutes ago... He wanted Reina."

Somehow, the atmosphere seemed to sink lower and lower as the facts went in. _Mott taking women?_ Montmorency thought. _I'd heard rumors about it, but not this way. It's never as strange as the truth..._

Siesta turned to Louise - who, despite her size, was the de facto leader of their group. "Please," she whispered.

"Aren't you going to answer for her?" Lordgenome whispered to Matilda.

"When you answer to her, while I answer to you? It doesn't work that way," the former thief whispered in reply, "not around these parts."

Louise looked back at where her Familiar and teacher were talking and turned her view to Siesta and the maid's extremely frightened parents.

"Who the hell do you think I am? I'm Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere," the petite girl answered, shocking Lordgenome with the familiar phrase she used. "I'll get your sister back, Siesta. Just stay here."

"Guard?" Tabitha asked quietly as soon as Siesta's parents retreated to the sitting room to wait for what they hoped would be a silver lining in the dark cloud that was this town's fate as of late.

"The four of you can stay here and hold the fort... or inn, as the case may be," Matilda answered, her gaze swinging over to Tabitha, the Germanian, Montmorency, and Guiche. "Kircheis, you're the oldest, so shore up this place's defenses – make sure no one follows up to take Siesta away as well. I'm sure our arrival has aroused the wrong kind of attention."

"Got it, ma'am."

"Don't be afraid..." Louise said. "We'll bring her back safe and sound."

"I... don't..."

"Believe in me." Louise's voice was oozing confidence in a way that everyone expected, after her taking down the Crumbling Dirt... but Lordgenome thought it a mite unnatural.

A hesitant nod was all Siesta could answer before Louise, Lordgenome, and Matilda nodded at each other and went back out into Tarbes, swaggering their way to Lord Mott's keep.

* * *

><p>Halfway through their brisk walk towards Mott's manor, Matilda stopped in her tracks.<p>

"I don't believe it," she gasped.

"Believe what?" Lordgenome whispered back, the trio continuing their walk towards Mott's manor.

"Didn't you notice, Lordgenome? The only townsfolk here are men... and women past a certain age."

The former Spiral King's eyes narrowed in barely-concealed contempt. He'd go after Reina first, and then Siesta. Not that he particularly cared for the maid, but she was a hard worker, and Louise did appoint her as an assistant right after the attempt on the Spear; while he would let his little master see the world as it truly was on her own time, he didn't want it striking too close to home too early. He'd seen those things happen, both to his allies and enemies; throwing people into the deep end and expecting them to swim usually twisted them into something beyond recognition.

Louise's fists clenched as she put the pieces together. This was something that you simply didn't do... noble or not. Unless you thought you could get away with it, like a certain Lord Insen Mott.

By the time the manor loomed in the distance, Louise had her mind made up. This wouldn't do. Nobility wasn't made for things or people like **this**.

What passed unspoken between the three of them was the pall of terror weighing them down even as they stepped foot into the town of Tarbes, the sensation of the malicious unknown growing larger and larger ever since they slaughtered the first camp of orcs not two days since leaving the Academy...

* * *

><p>"I do hope you, Miss Valliere, Sir Spiral Knight, and Madame Saxe-Gotha can enjoy my fine company," Lord Mott began as he met the motley crew in his study. "At first, I had thought being appointed to Tarbes was the deadest of all dead-end jobs given to me, but my discoveries put me at the threshold of destiny itself."<p>

His welcome wasn't so bad at first, but all of them began to notice the... wrongness of the situation as a middle-aged, empty-eyed maid poured the three of them some tea. If Mott wanted the womenfolk of Tarbes for servitude or worse, where were they?

"Does this have anything to do with the Ceremony?"

"Of course, it does," Mott answered, "it most certainly does. The people of Tarbes think the Doll they worship is nothing more than an obsidian face carved onto the mountain, but I've seen the inside of it, I've seen the power it can give..."

"Come, let me show you what I mean."

* * *

><p>Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere wondered if she was still sane.<p>

The abominations shown before her were certainly stretching her will to its breaking point, as the sights themselves would lead any lesser man or noble into a gibbering mess.

Matilda had long since excused herself to find a chamber pot to retch upon, and Lordgenome...

"Your eyes are glowing," she whispered to him as they walked onward, and the flaring red glow in his hand briefly subsided.

"You don't seem surprised at this," the former Spiral King whispered sharply back, oddly relieved that his master didn't bother noticing his clenching fists and gritted teeth.

"Do you want me to tell you about it now or later?"

"Tell me later, Louise."

Mott stretched his arms out wide.

"Behold. Under the mountain where the Black Doll lies is this factory where I can make the perfect soldiers: no mind except for battle, for victory, for conquest; only living for their masters' every order."

"So... this is why... Tarbes is now almost... a ghost town..." Louise muttered under clenched teeth. "And why you took Siesta's sister..."

"That maid?" Mott replied. "Oh, she was one of the finest specimens I had hoped to gain, but alas, I had to settle for her sister instead. You know how it is with these... simpletons, give them a chance to continue serving their Black Doll and they will jump at it. However, they seem to have gotten smart to it..."

"**OH FOUNDER, I'M GOING TO GIVE BIRTH AGAIN!" **a pained voice came from the distance, and Louise made up her mind as a disgusting squelch echoed in the halls. This kind of madness had to be stopped. It was her duty.

"_Should we spare him like we did with Fouquet?"_ Lordgenome asked Derflinger.

"_I don't think so," _the sword replied. _"Come to think of it, didn't you do this yourself?"_

"_I made what this world calls homunculi. This bastard is different. And now the pieces fall into place; this place was where those damned orcs came from."_

"Louise, let me be the one to take care of this problem," he said, putting a calming hand on her shoulder.

"No," Louise answered flatly. "Mott... this… thing is my responsibility."

He stepped back at the steel in Louise's tone.

"This is an outrage. No, this is beyond an outrage. This is completely unforgivable!" Louise screeched, cracking the glass all around them as her Void Magic reverberated throughout the hall, attuned to her heightened feelings. "For this… abomination, I have to redeem the honor of this town. I challenge you to a duel to the death!"

"Oh? The little girl thinks she can battle Lord Insen Mott to a duel? I may have not been dueling for quite some time, but I didn't get the runic name of 'The Unquenching Flame' for nothing! Very well, child, let me show you your lessons and put you in your place!"

Mott brandished his wand menacingly, and in a flash of light, the chamber was empty, the apparatus relocating elsewhere, with only the Spiral Knight, Louise and Lord Mott standing in a dueling chamber.

"Now draw your wand and let me put a spanking on that bottom of yours!"

Louise drew her wand with a more utilitarian flourish.

_Oh, that's rich, _Derf thought.

_Knew you'd catch that, Derf. How long 'till he gets it?_

_Let's wait until he __**TRIES**__ to cast his first spell. If he does, you should step in, right?_

Lordgenome nodded, a dark chuckle escaping his lips as Mott put out his own wand.

"Let this duel now commence! Fireblast!"

Mott did the wand incantation correctly, but all that erupted were some sparks... which was quickly followed up by a gout of blood erupting from a newly-formed stump as his wand arm clattered to the ground, sliced cleanly through the elbow.

His suddenly-frightened eyes turned to Louise's, who was now taking slow, sure, and deliberate steps towards him - like a tiger toying with its prey before ultimately devouring it.

Mott tried to reach for his wand with his other arm, but before he could do, Louise slashed the air again with her wand, a discolored patch of light following its Mistress' will striking the man's other elbow, leaving the lord without the use of both hands.

"I... I... I..."

_Why do her eyes have circles?_ Lord Mott's last thoughts were of that strange thing as she walked up to him and pointed her wand to his chest.

"In the name of the Valliere family and of the town of Tarbes, I, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere, order you…"

The spirals grew an angry crimson as the Void – responding to its Mistress' need – gathered itself.

"…**to Die,"** Louise declared, and the Void followed her command.

* * *

><p><em>The more you cast a spell, the easier it gets; you spend less time waving your wand and more time willing your thoughts to become reality. For that is what the essence of magic is: thought becoming reality.<em>

Matilda didn't bother with the pleasantries as with a minute flick of her wand, a fist of stone erupted from the wall and sent the guard flying.

Before he could even hit the wall, his companions followed suit as the walls which were the only witness to the horrors within suddenly retaliated - as fists and feet sprouted from the walls and struck, the guards each hit the wall of the far end of the room with a sickening crunch, then slid down to the floor in separate crumpled heaps, blood leaking from the corners of their mouths.

_And my thoughts are - you monsters deserve worse._

The mage formerly known as Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt shrugged off her cloak and went toward the girl shivering in the corner

"Are you all right?" she asked as she tried to extend a helping hand toward the girl.

All Matilda could see were frightened eyes as the girl nodded.

"They didn't do anything to you?"

"Gave... gave... me something," the girl said as she shuddered, and Matilda just had to spit a curse as she fished around in her pockets for some of her potion supplies. _It won't do to get into these adventures without proper... protection, _she thought.

_Found it,_ and with a reassuring hand, she gave the girl who looked a lot like Siesta a detoxification potion. "Here, drink this, Reina."

Reina's hand shook, but she accepted the potion just the same. "S-S-S-Siesta sent you?"

Matilda nodded.

"Come on, I'm getting you out of here and back to your family. Was giving you the potion all they did?"

That was what broke the dam, and the former thief had to contend with carrying a young lady, who was sobbing her thanks to her savior as Matilda made her way from Mott's dungeons and back to their home.

_Louise and her familiar can take care of themselves. I hope they don't mind if I go ahead; Reina's safe with me. Come to think of it, why aren't there that many guards here?_

* * *

><p>In the aftermath of the battle, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere and her familiar, the stalwart Lordgenome, began the adventurer's time-honored tradition of looting the opponent's keep.<p>

Most of what Louise found were research texts in an unknown language, and all the while she felt a tug at the back of her mind, almost as if something was beckoning to her.

After sifting through what seemed to be piles of documents, she finally found the source – a well-worn grimoire whose pages were, upon Louise's perusal, all blank.

Still, she felt that this Book belonged.

The traces of the Void she summoned still remained within her, resonating strongly as she carefully ran a hand with an abomination's blood spattered on it along the grimoire's spine.

_You are __**mine,**_ she said, and the book seemed to glow at her statement.

She turned towards Lordgenome, who was just about to finish removing the final young woman from the ghastly apparatus they had witnessed in operation.

As she saw the women's empty eyes, her thoughts about how her familiar managed to do this fled her mind. The imperative to ensure the women were okay – both in body and mind – came to the forefront.

* * *

><p>"No offense meant to your girlfriend," Kircheis said as a fireball knocked several of Mott's militia down, "but after strenuous activity like this, I wind down with a different kind of strenuous activity."<p>

"On her behalf, none taken," Guiche replied. "But I do think it seems unfair to leave Monmon out of it - if I'm the one you're after."

A large bronze broadsword flew in the air, and more soldiers were knocked away.

"Focus," Tabitha whispered as she took to the shadows, stabbing from odd angles and creating havoc that her fellow mages would take quick advantage of.

"Who would have known that Mott knew Siesta would come and send his best men after her?" the Germanian asked no one in particular. "I don't mind, though - the one thing I enjoy more than making love... is making war!"

She ducked, allowing Guiche to swing his broadsword cleanly, taking out more of the militia. "Why aren't you summoning your valkyries anyway?"

A kick to one of the last squads was Guiche's answer. "Reinforcements."

The redhead just let out a dissatisfied grunt as a wall of fire kept the next batch of soldiers from coming close, enough for Tabitha to sneak up behind them and impale Mott's guards on shards of ice. "That familiar of Louise is rubbing off on you."

"The more important question isn't that one," Montmorency said as she emerged from the inn where Siesta's family hid out.

"Why take Siesta?" Tabitha asked.

"Why, indeed," her friend answered, "Siesta must be something important for Mott to send most of his men after her..."

* * *

><p>"Should we destroy this place?" Louise finally asked after their work was done: Lordgenome throwing the carved-up remains of Lord Insen Mott to the facility's furnace and using his knowledge of the place to free the captured women from the machines they were strapped into. "Just to keep future people like Mott from doing what they've done here today."<p>

Lordgenome shrugged. "It's your call, as you are the master, and I am just the familiar."

"Seriously," she replied, which earned a chuckle from Derflinger. "What about the people of Tarbes? They… they don't deserve this. No one does. Can…"

Lordgenome's face grew impassive as Louise began launching into a panicky tirade. "I don't know how, but by the Founder, I've got to do something! We can't just let them stay this way, broken and used for goodness' knows what hideous purpose! It's our duty to make things right! That's what Mother tells me and what I've only understood now! Are you going to help me?"

Her familiar's gaze suddenly softened. "You're not the person I thought I knew," he finally said after breaking into a genuine smile. "You remind me more and more of my daughter every day."

"Can something be done?"

He nodded. "Based on what I've read, Void Magic is very, very powerful. If we could use the right spell…"

"I already know what spell to cast," Louise mumbled.

"What spell is that?" the mint-green-haired familiar asked as he took a surprised step back, Louise procuring a beaten-looking grimoire from her cloak.

"I picked it up when you were taking him away," Louise began as she leafed through the pages. "It was blank at first, but when I started wishing my hardest that the women here would return to normal… this appeared."

The former Spiral King quickly scanned the page. "Whole Restore – a void spell that pieces shattered minds and broken wills. It gives hope to the despairing, courage to the fearful, and fortitude to strengthen the mind from future trauma."

His eyes positively widened when he saw that the rune took on the form of a rainbow-colored spiral.

"…so I thought I could cast this with your help, and maybe help these people, so what do you think, Familiar?" Louise finally asked. "Familiar? Lordgenome?"

"Yes, Louise? I'm sorry," he said. "I was a bit lost in thought."

"Can we use this spell?" she asked again.

"It's possible…"

Though his tone seemed hopeful, deep inside, Lordgenome's inner voice was battling with him.

_That's not possible! A truth of the universe – everything breaks. It's entropy. You can't go against that._

However, a chorus of voices quickly silenced him.

**GO BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE AND PIERCE THE HEAVENS!**

**ISN'T YOUR DRILL THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVEN AND EARTH AND EVEN TOMORROW?**

**DO THE IMPOSSIBLE, SEE THE INVISIBLE!**

"Lordgenome!" Louise shouted, snapping the former Spiral King from his reverie. "You're spacing out again."

"My apologies, Louise," he replied. "Yes, I do think… with that spell. No, I don't think – I believe we can help the townsfolk recover with this spell."

He smiled, and he noticed the spirals in Louise's eyes also beginning to glow. "We can – no, we **WILL** do this!"

A nod, and a swirl of many colors burst from Louise's feet as she began to chant.

"Whether laughable or irrational… this is the path walked by all who are marked by the Void!"

Lordgenome's eyes widened in recognition as his own Void runes burst forth from his hands, carving themselves into a spiral.

"If there's a wall in the way, we'll blow it up! If there's no path, we'll blaze one with our hands!"

Both Master and familiar nodded as the familiar words of the incantation of the Void spell began to pulse with power, the very utterances beginning to echo off the walls, caressing the Void mage, her familiar, and the more than thirty young women turning their empty-eyed gazes towards the sound.

"The Void's heart blazes with power!"

"Infinite…" Louise shouted.

"…Nothingness!" Lordgenome finished.

"**Whole Restore!"** both bellowed.

The spell would not be cast without the phrase it needed, though… and both of them knew what it was, since the Void had given both of them Its blessing.

"**WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?"**

At that utterance, the many-swirling colors erupted into a maelstrom of power in a rainbow hue, pouring over the young women of Tarbes, restoring what through normal means should have been left asunder, all through the mighty power of the Void.

For what seemed like an eternity, the power twisted and swirled around the room until it subsided away, leaving a breathless Louise and a gaping Lordgenome in its wake.

That was when the first girl stood up, took notice of her state of undress, and was about to weep until Louise went up to her and offered her mantle.

"It's over," she said. "Let's take you home. All of you."

Somehow, she managed to convey her familiar's reassurance to these gathered women, and they wordlessly managed to walk out of Mott's hidden chamber to where they could gather some clothes for the walk back to town.

* * *

><p>"You left Louise out there… on her own?" Kircheis nearly screeched, confronting the Academy's librarian in a side room the moment Reina's teary-eyed reunion with her family finally finished.<p>

"It was my call," Matilda replied in a near whisper. "Reina… Siesta's sister needed me more than Louise. Besides, she has her familiar with her. I'm sure you've managed to see what he can do."

The Germanian crossed her arms. "Unlike you, who was rescued by the Zero's familiar, no, I haven't seen what he's capable of."

"Powerful," Tabitha replied without looking up from the book she was reading, "and loyal."

A red eyebrow was raised as she turned to her Gallian companion. "Not you too, Tabitha! I swear, what is with all of you keeping secrets about – what is that racket?"

Everyone in the group ran out of Siesta's manor the moment the clamor from the townsfolk began.

"By the Founder…" Matilda gasped, the words leaving her mouth as she took in the sight of Louise and Lordgenome leading all the young women taken from Tarbes back towards the middle of town.

"It's a miracle!"

"Thank the Founder!"

"This should be impossible… but the Founder, he was also capable of doing the impossible!"

Louise stepped up to the town center, coughed, and addressed the town, which by now had gathered in the square to witness the miracle taking place.

"I suppose this calls for some celebration, does it not?" she asked a bit smugly, and everyone cheered.

* * *

><p>"So what is the 'coming of age ceremony' all about, Siesta?" Montmorency asked as they took honored seats while the torches burned, the youth of Tarbes danced, and all of the people of Tarbes celebrated their new freedom from the perversions of one Lord Insen Mott, whose body was not yet found – and no one bothered to.<p>

"Well, to receive a blessing from the Black Doll, two selected townsfolk will journey to where the Black Doll is, and begin what we call 'the Miracle of the Void'."

"I do hope this isn't what people who travel to other lands call virgin sacrifices," Guiche quipped, pretending to be outraged while fumbling in his pack for some opera glasses.

"Actually, it is," Siesta explained further. "The chosen… the chosen will sacrifice their own shard of the Void to the Black Doll for it to keep Tarbes prosperous. Here, have a look."

"I still don't get it," Kircheis replied, grinning at the byplay between Guiche and Montmorency - she promptly joined him as soon as he gave him a pair of opera glasses of her own. "Aside from the whole 'miracle of the Void' thing, I know a lot about **that**."

"The chosen cannot bear children," Tabitha replied. "They offer that to the Black Doll."

"That's…" Louise said, but couldn't think of anything to describe it further. "So they offer their lives?"

"No," Siesta answered. "They merely offer the chance to bring life into the world – or so my father says. Reina and Johann will be honored in Tarbes for as long as they live – upon their passing, a new ceremony will be held."

"Oh my," Guiche and Montmorency said in unison as they turned their heads to the side in tandem as thanks to their opera glasses, they had a better view of the ceremony than their companions.

"The Black Doll is moving!" the townsfolk yelled out just as the chosen had finished their own set of activities. Ground rumbling, the obsidian head began to jut out of its rocky moorings, revealing a very familiar face to a very shocked Lordgenome.

_But how… __**Lazengann**__… why?_

He found no answer even as the townsfolk continued their revelry well into the night…

* * *

><p>"Another bounty today, Mister Viral, sir?" the portly official from Albion said.<p>

"Indeed," the shark-toothed man replied. "This one gave me a bit of trouble, but as I'd like to say, I'm a bit faster than most."

"Of course, sir. Shall I give you the usual?" the knight asked.

"Just the reward, sir knight, just the reward," the man called Viral replied, "me and my ecu have places to go and people to see, if you catch my drift."

"I catch it entirely, mister Viral. With all the unrest going on, I'm sure you can make more than this."

Viral shrugged. "Not at the moment."

"Then I wish you good luck, bounty hunter. There are bigger fish out there if you choose to search for it."

"Thank you," the former Spiral Knight said, "and I will."

He was about to turn back towards the orphanage when a very familiar feeling of power surged through him.

_He's here._

_**He's here?!**_

_But… my duty lies with Miss Tiffania… and her wards._

_Hah, whatever. If it's our destiny to meet again then so be it. I'm not going to rush headlong towards it like I did last time._

Viral smirked at the sky and took off towards his new home and his new master, thinking ahead to the time where he would run into his old master – the Spiral Knight Lordgenome – once more.

Fighting alongside him after so long would be… awesome. No... it would be **glorious**.

Chapter Six – **END**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>And thus the link grows deeper and deeper. Next chapter will have its own set of answers, more questions posed, and we finally meet one of the schemers in this universe face to face.

As to why this was delayed, I am working as a schoolteacher, playing online games, and managing several quests over on Spacebattles (one is Hyuuga Neji being the reincarnation of MASTER ASIA, THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST; the other is Teresa of the Faint Smile turning into a Hollow; and still another is Ronald Bilius Weasley being the reincarnation of Sarkhan Vol). If you have the time, check it out.


	7. Seventh Spiral: Bracing For Impact

_disclaimer:_ Once again, as always, none of this is mine. If you want to take some of my ideas, feel free to do so; just a shout out saying I inspired you is all I ask for.

Also, a lot of this chapter is **heavily inspired** by Cpl. Facehugger's awesome Prototype crossover with Familiar of Zero: Unfamiliar, to the point where I may have filched more than a few plot threads for my own use. This is partly intentional; as it's less a "ripping off" and more a "homage" (it's also a poorly-disguised plea for the Corporal to update it). Don't worry, I'll be giving it my unique spin – pun unintended – and it will make sense in future chapters.

Anyway, we're just about at the junction where the crazy things start happening, and two universes with little to do with each other will clash… violently.

So without further ado, here we go!

Lazengann, **OVERLOAD!**

**What the hell do you think this story is?**

* * *

><p><em><strong>From Zero to Infinity<strong>_

**A Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Familiar of Zero crossover fanfic**

* * *

><p><strong>Seventh Spiral: Bracing For Impact<strong>

* * *

><p>The week-long festival of the town of Tarbes had long since finished, with the townsfolk rested and refreshed from their seven days of feasting, celebration, and – let's be honest – a bacchanal or several.<p>

And in the wake of their liberation from a corrupt noble and his nefarious schemes, the people of Tarbes were due to return to their daily lives with a renewed vigor, thanks to the face of their patron saint, the Black Doll, looming over them like an obsidian sentinel.

It was while staring into the red eyes of the proverbial Black Doll that Louise found her familiar, perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the inn owned by Siesta's family.

"Lordgenome," she began as she made her approach towards her familiar. "It's time."

"So soon?" he asked her without peeling his gaze over the head of what looked like his personal mech – the Lazengann. "With how the town views the Black Doll as some sort of guardian god, I thought you would meet at least a token resistance from the townsfolk."

Louise shrugged. Upon her rescue of the young women of Tarbes from a fate worse than death, the town had deferred to her the way the servants at the manor deferred to her mother Karin.

Karin the Heavy Wind – a powerhouse of a mage, skilled politician, and mother to three beautiful daughters –Louise finally came to a full understanding of what her mother kept on saying about nobility.

_Your magic doesn't make you a noble. Your actions do._

She did feel like a heel when she asked the new mayor – a low-ranked noble named Peter the Cloud Fist who happened to be born in Tarbes – to investigate further into the ruins Lord Mott had found as soon as the week-long Coming of Age Ceremony had finished. Given her boon to the town, who was the mayor to say no?

Based on what she'd been seeing from her familiar during the celebration at Tarbes, Lordgenome had been chafing at the bit to check out the ruins which housed the Black Doll. She also surmised that he'd seen it before, in the world where he came from, and after she got the mayor's okay, it was a matter of getting everyone together to investigate the mountain where the Black Doll lay even further.

* * *

><p>"So how much time do we have left in our errantry?" Montmorency asked Kirche as they edged into one metal passage after another, gauging their position via compass and trail marking as they slowly but surely made their way from the base of the mountain – where Mott maintained the orc-spawning machinery – up to where the Black Doll's head loomed large over the town of Tarbes.<p>

"Two weeks or so," the Germanian replied. She had her misgivings about Lordgenome, and saw in him a skilled combatant, but she never really put "just how skilled" together. It didn't help that she would always witness him at the close of any decisive moments, either. Still, it was thanks to Louise and Lordgenome getting the town of Tarbes back on its feet that Kirche was able to sample what she termed as the local cuisine, sometimes two at a time, several times over.

And now, with the festivities ended and the town returning to its usual tenor, Matilda and her student mages were navigating their way within the mountain overlooking Tarbes.

"…Protection?" Tabitha asked, eyebrows furrowing with concern when the Germanian regaled her fellow student mages with stories about just how hard she partied along with the young men of Tarbes.

"Obviously," the redhead replied, raising a disbelieving eyebrow at her friend as they turned a corner, only to see an odd set of doors, with an even odder lock on them. "Dead end," she sighed. "Now what do we do?"

"It's not quite a dead end," Lordgenome replied as his hand snaked into the front of his shirt to fish out the small drill-like object that was the former business end of the Staff of Destruction. "I happen to have the key for this." As he held up what he called the Core Drill to the lock, both of them began to pulse with a warm red light.

"Here goes nothing," he said as he inserted and turned the drill inward like a key.

The light that emerged from the newly-opened doors engulfed all of them.

* * *

><p>"Glad your kind managed to show up here, Professor," a glad Tristanian knight said as a bald wizard pointed his wand at a pile of orc corpses, sending them up in flames nearly instantaneously.<p>

"I normally would take a pass from these duties, but seeing the harm these orcs have done has spurred me to action," Professor Jean Colbert replied. "Plus, you need all the help you can get, right?"

"That's right," the knight answered. "Guess you and your students have earned the noble title now."

Colbert set another stack of corpses aflame. "_Noblesse oblige, _[note 1]" he muttered before mentally gauging his willpower, and finding he had enough metaphorical gas left in the metaphorical tank to torch a thousand or more dead orcs.

A small clamor erupted from the soldiers, knocking Colbert out of his thoughts.

"Chief!" a yell came as the officer-in-charge arrived. "Reinforcements from Tristain's Magical Academy made it, and not a moment too soon."

"Ah, yes," the commanding tone of Agnes answered. "I would like a situation report as soon as possible. Professor, how goes your students'… you."

Angry eyes tried to skewer Professor Jean Colbert where he stood, but all the outward reaction he could make from the intensity of her glare was a pained sigh.

"Fancy meeting you here, Flame Snake," the Princess' right-hand-woman began, triggering a round of murmuring from the gathered knights, and the professor shrugging at the reference to his runic name.

"I've not been known by that name for quite a long time now," he replied wearily, "and I had hoped that whatever I've done wouldn't come back to haunt me. I guess I should have prepared for this moment a little more."

"Prepare all you want, the fact that you already know why I'm here is enough. So," Agnes replied, carefully withdrawing a cavalry saber from its sheath, "time for you to feel my parents' pain and suffering."

Instead of defending, he just dropped his arms. "Go on, then," he said. "You'll be doing me a favor, putting the nightmares to an end."

"Sir!" a chorus of two voices shouted as two mages took up positions in front of their professor.

"Katie… Malicorne…" he said, a bit surprised at how quickly the students of the Academy would rise to the defense of their… slightly eccentric professor. "Thank you, but do not interfere."

"Interfere? Why, that's preposterous!" Katie said, poised to cast a fire spell first chance she got. "She's trying to kill you!"

"With good reason," the professor replied. "I, after all, killed her parents… right in front of her. That was a big mistake, come to think of it… those two were the last I was ordered to… eliminate before I had had it with black ops and tendered my resignation."

He put calm hands on his students' shoulders. "Please. Step aside. Let her do her worst. It would be good for her and for me." What he left unsaid was how he had been reliving it day after day, resorting to all sorts of methods to keep his dreams from plaguing his already frayed conscience.

The empty eyes of the former Flame Snake met the angry, determined ones on Princess Henrietta's bodyguard, and after minutes of the musketeer searching for any malice in the old man's eyes and finding none, Agnes finally relented.

"Live with your nightmares a bit longer, Flame Snake," she gritted out before tossing the saber to a nearby knight and walking off in a frustrated huff.

"That was close," Malicorne mused. "Sir, was what everything you and the Chief Musketeer said true?"

"Yes," Colbert replied. "Yes, it was. I can't tell you any more… otherwise I'd have to kill you."

The other students rolled their eyes. "Professor Colbert, you may have done all that, but your sense of humor is still flatter than a flounder," Malicorne muttered, and everyone else could not help letting out a chuckle.

"So I've been told," he said between the gales of laughter, weighing his options regarding whether to tell Agnes that her parents weren't, really; that they had found her as a newborn sleeping peacefully within a sealed metal box near the outskirts of Tristain itself, and this very fact was why he and his unit were ordered to find and hunt them down…

* * *

><p><em>This… this is impossible.<em>

_I had expected the unexpected ever since I figured out I carried the power of the Spiral more than most, but this?_

_How can this be? It's a near-perfect replica of my palace. The town on the mountain… it's built on top of Teppelin city, or something close to it!_

_What is going on here? How? Why?_

An unbelieving Lordgenome ran his hands through the machinery while looking incredulously at the slumbering black mecha tethered on the floor in the middle of the room. Red lights glowed and pulsed as the generators and storage units stood in silent watch over the ganmen, reserves full and near to brimming from all the Spiral Power freely given by the people of Tarbes over the centuries.

The former Spiral King laughed nervously as he recalled the more… flamboyant… member of the Gurren Brigade – Leeron – and his declaration about how love was the driving force behind Spiral Power.

He laughed off the eccentric mechanic's theories then, took those words of his seriously in the final battle, but the truth – the actual, full-blown entirety of it in action – never really hit him in the face until now.

_So that's why the Coming of Age Ceremony is like that,_ his hindsight told him. _Leeron was right all long. Love really does power the Spiral Energy generators._

"Lordgenome, your smile and laugh are quite unnerving to my friends," Louise whispered as she stepped up to him and joined him in examining the central chamber. "Wait, if that's the Black Doll, what's the black face on the mountaintop?"

"An effigy, most likely," the mint-haired young man answered as his eyes met the darkened crimson of the Lazengann's. "Maybe I can key myself into this… but not now, as our time is short. We have to return to Tristain now or miss the Familiar Presentation ceremony."

Meanwhile, everyone else was marveling at the sights. While Mott's chamber turned stomachs, the almost-sterile appearance of the main chamber provided a stark contrast to the generator's muted lights and its centerpiece – the black machine anchored to the middle of the room, its arms folded, looking down upon Matilda's group as a disapproving parent would.

"We'll come back here, right, Professor Matilda?" Montmorency asked.

"We will," the former thief answered, ruffling her hair as she gave Guiche a commending look for having his Valkyries scout ahead. The young Gramont now had an even finer control over his summons than before, and it was said that Verdandi could also help in controlling the bronze warrior maidens. "We will. Come on, let's go back to the town and begin preparations for our return to the Academy from there."

During their departure, Louise could not help but feel as if the Black Doll her familiar kept referring to as the Lazengann was watching them leave, its red eyes glowing a bit more intensely as they left the automaton to its continued slumber…

* * *

><p>As the cart carrying Professor Matilda de la Longueville and her students ran through the country road – edging closer and closer to the capital – Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere dozed off, visions of her triumphant walk through the courtyards of the Magical Academy of Tristain filling her head as she daydreamed about how her achievements would be given their just recognition.<p>

A surprised Eleanor would be there, a radiant Cattleya – if she would be well enough to make the trip – and for the first time ever, her Mother would look to her with pride in her eyes.

As she smiled, Lordgenome gave a careful look at her and sighed himself. They may have found another Lazengann, but it could have been keyed to a different person than him. The horrors of the Tarbes countryside were another concern, thanks to most of the students' errantries revolving around orc extermination.

Orcs… or better yet, failed beastmen.

If they hadn't taken too long celebrating, they would have carved a bloody swath of orcs from Tarbes back to the Academy. The former Spiral King did not want others to do his own dirty work, and was disappointed that the weeks off at Tarbes removed his chance to do so. Still, thanks to Louise and her friends, they were able to cut off the orc infestation at the root, and Tristain's military would finally earn a respite.

As Louise continued to nap, Lordgenome closed his eyes and entered into a conversation with Derflinger, the spirit currently inhabiting the Core Drill.

_Louise's behavior is… disconcerting as of late. Are these the work of the familiar runes?_

_**No,**_ the sentient weapon said. _**The Void magic is interacting with you and Louise in an odd manner.**_

_Explain._

_**Well,**_ Derflinger said, _**you have begun efforts in preventing the familiar runes from binding you to Louise, right?**_

_Yes, I have. What does this do with – unless you mean what I think you do? She's beginning to think like me?_

_**Sadly, you are correct,**_Derflinger replied._**Your effort in keeping your will intact is beginning to overwrite Louise's with yours.**_

_It's not such a bad thing, but I do not __**want**__ her to become another me, Derflinger. I would not wish a lifetime of that on my enemy, let alone my… friend._

_**So Louise is now a friend to you?**_

_Friends, huh,_ Lordgenome mused, taking a moment to consider what he first thought was a faux pas. _Perhaps that is… too strong a word. Colleagues, perhaps, is a better word to describe my bond with Louise and her friends. What should be done to prevent the binding and the overwriting?_

_**Reach a balance, my friend,**_ Derflinger answered enigmatically. _**That was how Brimir did it, and I'm sure you can pull it off yourself. You are, after all, someone who can do the impossible just like him.**_

_Row! Row! Fight the power?_ Lordgenome asked, carefully filing away the knowledge about this world's most powerful arch mage Brimir, who was also apparently a user of the Void, and perhaps knew about Spiral Power just like the Order of the Spiral Knights…

_**Took the words right out of my mouth,**_ Derf replied with a metaphorical grin, and this time Lordgenome could not hide the surprise in his soul.

Lordgenome wanted to ask the spirit of Derflinger more, but the neighing of the horses signaled the carriage's arrival at the Tristain Magical Academy, and thus would have to be put off for a later time.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, some distance away, two women were having a discussion. The older one – you could barely guess which thanks to how she kept scrupulous care of herself – was currently dissuading the younger one. Again, you could barely guess who was which thanks to the younger woman's feminine – bordering on maternal – build. Both women were not giving an inch of ground in the discussion despite the younger one's occasional coughing, and they were set to resume their verbal bout when a knock on the door had them hold their truce for a moment.<p>

"Come in," they both said nearly instantaneously, and the door opened slightly as one of the senior maidservants peered inside, treading warily around the lady of the house.

"Duchess, the carriage is waiting," the maidservant said, her voice firm despite her fright at having interrupted the lady and her daughter during their discussion.

"Thank you, Gisela," the lady said with the barest of nods and without leaving the cushion where she currently sat. "We shall be downstairs shortly."

"By your leave, Duchess," the maidservant said before leaving and closing the door behind her. As soon as the door clicked, the Duchess' eyes swept to where her daughter was putting the finishing touches of make-up onto her face.

"You do not have to exert yourself any further, Cattleya," Duchess Karin Desiree le Blanc de la Valliere said, lecturing her second daughter Cattleya, who was insistent on joining her mother and older sister Eleanor for the trip to the Tristain Magical Academy.

Troubling developments lay ahead upon their arrival in the school. While the Duchess would appear in the Academy to give her requisite speeches on valor and combat prowess and award those Princess Henrietta deemed worthy of the chevalier rank, there was another, more important reason for her presence. The Duchess had only gotten the message about Tarbes a few days ago, and while the Duchess found Insen Mott's… proclivities… distasteful, he proved to be a good politician and a prime source of information regarding Reconquista – a fool's errand, if she had no tact in describing it.

The opportunity in that crisis proved to be Peter of the Cloud Fist – a simple man who could potentially be another politically savvy informant like Mott – but without the perversions or proclivities the Duchess almost planned a convenient accident for (if not for her daughter taking matters into her own hands).

"And I," Cattleya Yvette La Baume Le Blanc de la Fontaine replied, "am going to make sure you do not – deliberately or accidentally – summon a metaphorical storm all over Louise's victory parade. This is her moment."

The older woman's eyes narrowed. "I find your weakened constitution has not affected the sharpness of your tongue as of late, young lady."

Cattleya curtsied as low as her body could handle, which was not too low. "My apologies, Mother. However, I do not say this for my own sake – Louise has been through a lot, and she will need more than my support for her to continue onward. You yourself said that the steel must not be left in the forge too long, lest it grow brittle."

"I did… yes, I can see how you thought it would apply to Louise, too. Special or not," the Duchess said, standing up to her full and formidable height, "Louise will be strong."

"That's not the question, Mother," Cattleya said. "The question is: what price will Louise pay to be strong?"

An oppressive silence hung over mother and daughter for what seemed like half an eternity before the younger woman coughed.

"…I shall take Mr. Fluffles to the Academy. You can take the carriage with your father and Eleanor," she declared before sweeping out of the room. Had Cattleya not gone into another coughing fit, she would have noticed the fleeting terror in her mother's eyes before she said that.

The trip from their manor to the Tristain Magical Academy proved to be unusually quiet for the Duke, the Duchess and their two daughters… even if there was a manticore flapping its wings alongside the carriage.

* * *

><p>"My name is Lordgenome," he declared. "I am but a man, and in this presentation of familiars today, I may be but a man, but I can think, fight, negotiate, and reason better than most."<p>

He revealed the familiar runes in his hand as he summoned a bit of Spiral Power for effect. "And these runes are an etching of the promise made – to guard and guide my Master through all her days, not only as her familiar, but as her loyal knight."

The red aura died away gradually as the familiar runes slowly vanished, and he stood in front of the stage and bowed.

"Thank you."

It was a Spartan presentation compared to the tricks everyone else before them did, but the crowd of onlookers certainly felt the power that Louise's familiar brought. Not as visually impressive as, say, Tabitha's, but that power with that intelligence and creativity? It was more than enough applause for Louise and her familiar.

"See what I meant?" Lordgenome asked as they were backstage, looking at Kirche and her familiar do some tricks. "If we'd gone and revealed everything, you'd have been in trouble."

"But the runes…"

"…were obscured. The runes turn into a spiral of lines whenever I use my power, do not worry about that."

"…that's impressive," Louise added, seeing Flame conjure up a ring of fire.

"It is," Lordgenome said as the audience applauded the Germanian's stage presence and her familiar's talents. "And take that envious look off your face. I've known girls who didn't hit their growth spurt until a bit later in life."

"I'm seventeen," Louise said as Tabitha took the stage. "If I'm getting a growth spurt, shouldn't it be happening now?"

Lordgenome shrugged. "Well, if it doesn't come around, you won't worry about your back hurting."

His diminutive master pouted. "I can't believe you're so… so… laid-back about my predicament. Shouldn't it be your concern to help me grow from this?"

"It should, but I choose not to bother myself with it," the Spiral Knight replied. "That's the last one. We should be seeing someone take the stage to award you the rank of…"

He trailed off when he saw his Master holding onto his arm with a heavily-shaking hand. "…What's wrong?"

"It's Mother," she said, her voice cracking. "She's here."

"Just play it cool," Lordgenome instructed her. "Do what needs to be done, and get back on the stage. I'll be right behind you if something goes wrong."

She turned back and nodded before facing the stage. "…Okay."

"…and, due to this supreme act of nobility and the thanks bestowed by the people of Tarbes, I, Duchess Karin Desiree le Blanc de la Valliere, as the duly-appointed vassal of Princess Henrietta de Tristain, bestow the rank of Chevalier to Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere."

Louise's first steps were shaky as she emerged from backstage to the applause of everyone gathered. Her eyes swept through the audience – finding her friends Kirche, Tabitha, Montmorency, Guiche, even Siesta was also clapping at her achievement. As her gaze swept towards where her mother – the Duchess – was waiting, she also saw her sisters. Eleanor's countenance was firm, but her eyes were smiling, while Cattleya was clapping her hands and waving whenever she could.

Her two sisters' approval finally got the shaking out of her legs, and she began a confident stride towards the middle of the stage to receive her rank from the Duchess de la Valliere.

After the required two taps of the sword on her shoulder, Louise rose up to shake the Duchess' hand. When she did so, however, the Duchess whispered something that unnerved her utterly.

"The Rule of Steel has finally awakened in you, my daughter," the Duchess quietly said, with the happiest smile on her face she could muster.

Somehow, something in Louise vanished when she heard those words from her mother. She never realized the void in her heart until she was beckoned to smile and wave at the audience once again, which she did almost mechanically.

Lordgenome caught on instantly, and the moment her robotic steps carried her fully through the shadows of the backstage area, Louise unceremoniously collapsed in a heap.

"Has something happened?" he said as he laid his master down and had a look at her and felt for a temperature. "You're clammy. What was that all about on the stage?"

"Mother…" Louise managed to gasp out, her voice a quavering whisper.

"Stay right here, I'm going to find someone. Who should I call?" he asked on his way out the backstage door and into the crowd.

"Call my sister Cattleya… please," was all Louise could let out before she started curling up into a ball and shivered.

"Will do," the mint-haired young man said, his eyes starting to glow red with Spiral Power as he saw his master once more reduced to nothing. _After this,_ he decided, _I'm going to give Louise's mother a piece of my mind, Duchess or not._

* * *

><p>At the gathering, Cattleya had quickly separated from her parents and sister, and was speaking to one of Princess Henrietta's bodyguards about their respective families while she kept the Duchess within line of sight. She saw her parents playfully chastise Eleanor for some reason or another before something odd caught her attention - a vaguely recognizable head of mint-green hair moving between tables, only to stop abruptly and make a beeline for her after a moment.<p>

"Excuse me, are you Cattleya?" the young man with the odd-colored hair asked as soon as he excused himself past the chatting nobles and serving ladies. "Cattleya Yvette La Baume Le Blanc de la Fontaine?"

"Yes, I am," she said as she stood up slowly, sizing up the young man with a glance as she did so. The light green hair with just a smidgen of blue in it and piercing red eyes was something memorable enough for her to instantly recall. "You are my sister's familiar, are you not? You identified yourself as Lordgenome on stage quite a while ago."

"That's so," the Spiral Knight replied.

"My apologies for not recognizing you immediately," the de la Valliere's second daughter began, "what with the Familiar exhibition being as... entertaining as it was."

"I pay it no heed, ma'am," Lordgenome replied, "but that is not what I am here for; it is a matter concerning my Master, she has need of you; immediately, if possible."

Her eyes widened considerably. "Is she hurt?"

"No, but something happened during the knighting. Something to make my Master's emotional state… volatile."

"I see," Cattleya answered, eyes growing resolute. "Take me to her, then."

"Yes, ma'am, right this way," Lordgenome answered, and took the lead in the walk towards the rear of the stage where Louise was waiting for them.

Upon their arrival backstage, Louise had already managed to compose herself somewhat, but upon seeing her older sister, something gave way in her yet again, and she broke down in sobs as she clutched her sister tightly, losing herself in the tightest embrace she could give.

"It's not… it's not… it wasn't worth anything after all!" Louise said between her sobs, and a small noise that was the telltale sound of glass cracking had Lordgenome's head turning to see that a nearby mirror had several fractured lines on it, proof of Louise's control over her power starting to slip slightly.

"I… I know now. What it means… to be noble," Louise continued, "but is this all what Mother wants from me… you… us?"

"Hush now, Louise," Cattleya said, her heart going to pieces at just how thoroughly her sister was broken. "I'm here now. Just let yourself go."

"I can't, Big Sis, I can't…" Louise cried. "I… I thought I was strong, but… I don't want to hurt anyone with my power… especially you… I wouldn't know what to do if the Void harmed you…"

"You're… a Void mage?"

Louise turned tear-filled eyes up to her sister as she nodded her assent, and she broke even further as she could see the fear in her sister's eyes. Big Sis Cattleya did a very good job of hiding it, but Louise found it all the same.

_Sometimes the Void cuts through the heart of the matter, even in things unprepared for those who wield it._

"It was terrible," Louise continued, unmindful of Derflinger's voice echoing in her head, "we were adventuring, and took some time off at one of the maids' home town… what I saw… what I saw…"

She broke down in sobs as she could not bear to keep talking to her sister.

"But… but…" she said after getting over her crying fit, "we – Lordgenome and I – we made it right. That is being noble. That is what the Rule of Steel is to me. Mother, though…"

After that, she was quiet, and Cattleya did not know what to tell her sister.

"Louise," she said, "I won't tell you what to do from here on out. You're your own woman now, and that means you have to walk your own road in life. But don't forget this. I, Eleanor, and yes, even Mother – we all love you very much. That won't ever change."

"Really?" Louise, swinging a gaze on eyes already rimmed red, asked her sister with the same desperation a drowning man would have for someone about to throw him a floating aid.

"Absolutely," Cattleya replied, putting away her sadness towards her sister's state, and pulled Louise in closer for an embrace that she knew made her little sister feel safe, even if for a moment.

Some distance away, Lordgenome was watching the scene with fascination out of the corner of his eye even as he stood close to the stage and waiting for the two sisters to finish their moment.

_She stabilizes our Master,_ the former Spiral Knight observed. _Pity though, her body's frail._

_**Could we try it, buddy?**_ Derflinger asked. _**That last spell you used on those girls in Tarbes?**_

_We could…_ Lordgenome replied. _Yes, I think we should – we owe Louise at least that much._

"…I really can't believe you could do all those things, being as you are a commoner," a young woman's voice concluded, and Lordgenome swung his gaze towards her, so deep he was in conversing with Derf with his thoughts that he had not noticed her arrival.

"Whether you believe it to be true or not is irrelevant," Lordgenome thought aloud. "What's important is that Louise is about to stand on her own. The process is fraught with its own aches and pains, but we shall all be standing with her, as we have walked the same path before her."

"Indeed, that is most correct. Eleonore Albertine le Blanc de la Blois de la Valliere… but you can call me Eleanor."

"I am Lordgenome… Louise's familiar."

"So I've heard," Eleanor said with a smile. "My sister… you do not have many problems with her? You are a commoner, after all… no offense meant."

"None taken," Lordgenome replied as he turned amused eyes at her, "so you are… Louise's older sister, along with Cattleya?"

"Yes," the blonde replied with a nod. "I can see it in her eyes. Louise – she has grown up so much. Why, if you had met her six months previous, you would think Louise was a different person. Now I wonder… what have you done for her to rise to the challenge of being a de la Valliere?"

"Just some motivation and the right directions for her training," the Spiral Knight replied enigmatically. "Not to mention, someone who actually believes in her and what she can do."

"That is something she needs…"

"…but cannot be provided, lest she be made weak?" Lordgenome asked in a probing tone as he completed the young noble's sentence, and mentally acknowledging his point as he saw her flinch and nod in quick succession. "Louise is trying her hardest to be strong for your sake."

"Cattleya… she's not in the best shape. Mother… she can be… a bit overly enthusiastic. I turned out fine, Cattleya, too… but Louise…"

"You fear she will grow… brittle and shatter someday?"

A solemn nod was all the answer he needed.

"Ah, there you are, my daughter," a voice said in the distance. Eleanor turned and bowed to the new arrivals, and made their way towards them. A blond man wearing royal finery was beaming at Lordgenome.

"Father, I do believe you've seen him at the exhibition earlier – he is Louise's familiar."

"Ah, yes, yes, of course. Duke de la Valliere."

Lordgenome goggled. "Your name **is** Duke, Your Grace?"

"Indeed," the man said before laughing heartily. "You are not the first to ask me that, and certainly not the last. Why, look at you! I am sure my daughter is in very good hands with you as her familiar."

"Thank you, Your Grace," Lordgenome answered with a smile of his own.

"My word, no wonder my wife was so – oh, pardon me, there she is," the duke said, waving to the same woman who awarded Louise the rank of chevalier, her mother, the Duchess Karin de la Valliere.

As she approached, the hairs on the back of the Spiral Knight's neck began to slowly stand on end. _This one is dangerous… perhaps even more than the Headmaster or Professor Colbert… and Matilda, too._

_And she knows just how dangerous I can be. This is bad._

_**Last time I saw eyes on those was on Brimir's first familiar – Sasha…**_

_Tell me later, Derf. I'm going to need all my wits about me here._

* * *

><p>Louise did not know how long she was wrapped in her sister's embrace and crying off the emotions that had been bottled up over the past few weeks. By the time Louise had gone over her fit of anxiety, she looked up only to see her sister's concerned expression.<p>

"Big Sis Cattleya?" she asked. "What's happening?"

"Mother… Mother is discussing something with someone," Cattleya said, and her eyes rose up when she saw a familiar shock of mint green hair. "Your familiar… he is getting very agitated."

"What's he saying?" Louise asked as she helped her sister out of the backstage area.

"Let's find out," and when they had emerged from the staging area of the Familiar Presentation ceremony, they were caught in the middle of a heated discussion-slash-argument between Lordgenome and the Duchess.

"Well, point taken that you've seen the horrors of war – I have, too, in a way. Where our difference lies is that in war, some people choose to take part in it… or run from it. The women of Tarbes could not resort to either of them," Lordgenome declared, his tone dropping to an angry baritone, making him sound several decades older than his slight build and feminine features implied. None of his power leaked out except for his red eyes beginning to glow, the spiral motif pulsing as he continued to make his point to Louise's mother, the Duchess de la Valliere. "Besides, war has its own horrors, but I'm pretty sure you'd be a little horrified yourself, seeing what my Master and I did. If you're still not convinced, there's Professor Matilda's word."

"Do you really think the word of a brigand like her has any value to me?" Karin asked.

"A mere brigand; is that how you perceive her as?" Louise's familiar asked with dark amusement, the glow of the spirals in his eyes becoming brighter in his mirth as he let out a chuckle before continuing. "Her heart is in the right place, though; which is more than I can say for you, presumably. Mott didn't get to where he was without people like **you** looking the other way."

"You… dare?" the Duchess asked quietly, the indignant undertone as sharp as the razor winds she was famous for casting.

"Yes, I presume – no, I dare – if only to stop you from insinuating that your daughter didn't take anything but the right action involving that… thing," he gritted out. "Very few people manage to stay afloat when thrown into the deep end and asked to swim."

"You would, if you would see the world they grew up in."

"You're not giving them the chance to be children."

"I disagree."

Surprisingly, Lordgenome laughed, the Spiral Power building up in him gradually receding as he found himself at an impasse with his pink-haired master's role model. "I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree, then. You also assume that Louise asked me to do my duty as her familiar, to deliver justice to Lord Insen Mott… however, your assumptions are erroneous, Duchess."

"Louise did it?"

He followed up his nod with a knowing smile. "She even asked me if she could take on that task herself."

_Well, _the Duchess thought; _that changes everything._ Her look of concern towards Louise and indignation towards her familiar quickly changed to a self-satisfied little grin as she heard the details from a different point of view.

Sometimes throwing someone out the window and seeing if they swim works… but then again, one must be careful of what he or she wishes for… lest they get it.

"It appears I have been mistaken," the Duchess finally said after a while. "She has the same steel as I do."

_No, __**she doesn't**__,_ Lordgenome wished to shout back. _She's trying too hard for your sake. You've pushed her to this, now if she becomes something you can't handle, it's __**your**__ funeral._

"Continue to support my daughter. She will need a strong familiar when she carries on her role in the family."

And with that last imperious declaration, the duchess turned and swept down the halls of the Academy's courtyard, her husband and eldest daughter following suit after giving Louise and her familiar a small nod.

_**Okay, this party suddenly took a turn for the worse,**_ Derflinger grumbled as he felt Lordgenome's state of mind.

Lordgenome turned a glance at to where Louise and her older sister Cattleya were watching and listening to the last few bits of the conversation, and he just shook his head sadly. Derflinger quickly picked up on their condition and shrugged.

_**Scratch that, this party just up and died.**_

The former Spiral Knight quickly walked back into the castle at this display, barely catching the introduction to a man named Wardes.

Sparing a look, he just shook his head, muttered something about brown-nosing noblemen, and stalked back to the Academy interior in a huff. A huge ping of fear from Matilda at the new arrival was also given little heed, as he knew that Matilda did steal from a lot of nobles as her alter ego Fouquet.

He would end up paying for his rage-fueled negligence the next morning.

* * *

><p>Lordgenome strode with purpose through the halls of the Academy. <em>The nerve – the sheer nerve of <em>_**that Duchess!**_ Lordgenome thought furiously. _She would put the loss of her political capital ahead of the fact that her daughter did what she didn't have the guts to do?_

_**Partner,**_ Derflinger replied, _**you're leaking what you call Spiral Power.**_

_Because __**I'm angry**__,_ the aqua-haired young man gritted out. _That… woman has been so fixated on her idea of strength that she's forgotten where she started from. Nobody begins where she is now, so why is she pushing her children to start off where she took her formative years to achieve?_

_**Maybe she doesn't want her children to walk down the same bumpy road as she did?**_ Derflinger answered.

_Maybe… maybe you're right,_ the Spiral Knight answered, his anger subsiding somewhat. _Though her solution brings with it its own set of problems, problems this Duchess apparently overlooked…_

_**Well, **_the talking sword explained, _**given that the only thing that matters to her is the concept of power, maybe admitting weakness is not in her vocabulary?**_

_There is that, but as it is, it will not be the Duchess who pays for it,_ Lordgenome confirmed. _It's her children who will._

_**Indeed,**_ the talking sword replied, and so engrossed were Lordgenome and Derflinger in their thoughts that they failed to notice the interloper in the shadows…

* * *

><p>That night, Louise went to bed feeling conflicted. Her mother had praised her… but what she appeared to praise and acknowledge was Louise's newfound strength, resolve… power. Somehow, it didn't seem enough for her. Big Sis Eleanor did not even pinch her cheeks and call her "Little Louise" after the Princess – through her mother – had given her the chevalier rank.<p>

Big Sis Cattleya… while she had always been the kind and gentle big sister, something changed in her the moment Louise told her about what she found under Mott's manor.

Then came the conversation between her familiar and her mother, and while Louise had been surprised at the way Lordgenome stood up for her, the way her mother ended the conversation unnerved her utterly.

Still, she was given the rank of _chevalier_ for her achievements, Mother had acknowledged her in her own way; all in all, today had been a very strange – day.

It only got stranger the moment she fell asleep and dreamed. Deep in her slumber, she found herself in the middle of a battle already won, plumes of smoke decorating the starry skies.

"_The world is yours, your Majesty," the man in the dream told Louise. "What are your plans?"_

"_Drive them all underground. Leave no one on the surface."_

"_Your Majesty…"_

"_It is the worst of choices I have to make if I have to keep our kind alive. Bring out the mass-produced units. If anyone objects to their… forced relocation…" Louise said with a chuckle so dark she could not imagine it coming from her. "You may use any amount of force as necessary."_

"_Even lethal force, sir?" the aide asked Louise, who smirked as she caught something that looked a lot like her familiar's necklace before twisting her hand._

_Her grin was that of a death's-head as she ground out her reply: "__**…ESPECIALLY**__ lethal force."_

Louise shot up from her bed with the silk sheets and her peignoir drenched with her sweat, and quickly headed to the mirror, the words still resounding in her head.

It was an inconceivable scenario.

She would never have made that order.

A sweaty face framed by pink hair met its reflection in the looking glass, and she peered intently at her own mirror image.

Spirals weren't in her eyes… yet.

She would never make that order… would she?

_The Rule of Steel has awakened in you, my daughter._

Would she?

A sudden glow from the tattered grimoire nearby aroused her attention, and upon opening its pages, awe and maybe a little dread immediately filled the young Void mage as she read its first glowing letters.

"_This is the story of a young girl who defies her destiny."_

* * *

><p>Early the next day, Princess Henrietta de Tristain was taking care of both official and unofficial business. There were tasks to delegate, letters to answer, operations to begin and maintain via Agnes and her squadron of guards, soldiers and informants known as the "Black Hand", and many other details to sift through.<p>

While she did relent in allowing the Academy's students to perform errantries to rebuild the school, she still had a few other worries in her mind, namely the kingdom of Albion and the movement called "Reconquista".

The latter had grown from a worry to a full-blown threat to regional security by a large margin, thanks to Agnes' latest report from her network of Black Hand informants.

King Albrecht Wales had just been assassinated by agents of the Reconquista, and judging by the fallout over in Albion, the rebels were planning to take the country over, either by installing Prince Wales as a puppet ruler, or… or…

Henrietta cut her train of thoughts off. This was why she was here.

A knock on the door came, and in entered Louise with her Familiar.

"You called, Princess?" she asked.

"Good timing, Chevalier Louise," Henrietta said, smiling widely upon seeing her childhood friend. "I have a favor to ask of you. It is… admittedly difficult, but given your skill and that of your familiar's, I have no doubt you will accomplish it."

"What would you ask of me, Princess?" Louise asked, excited at the prospect of finally being useful not only to her childhood friend, but also the Princess of Tristain.

"I am charging you on a diplomatic task, Chevalier de la Valliere," the princess announced as she withdrew a letter embossed with the seal of the Kingdom of Tristain. "You shall personally deliver this letter to Prince Wales of Albion. Accompanying you on your duty to Tristain is the Viscount Wardes of the Lightning."

The newly-inaugurated Chevalier's eyes beamed at the task appointed to her, not knowing how predatory the glances to her were from the viscount behind her…

As soon as the briefing had ended and both Louise and Lordgenome were back in their room, a knock on their door broke the silence.

Opening it, Lordgenome saw the maid Siesta.

"Mr. Lordgenome," she began, "something's wrong…"

"About…?" he asked.

"It's Miss Matilda. She's… well… it's better you come see for yourself."

The Spiral Knight was well out of the door in a few moments and racing towards the faculty residences.

* * *

><p><em>This can't be…<em>

_**Partner, you've been getting the habit of saying something like that every now and then. Whatever happened to "go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb"?**_

_Derf, the only reason this happened is because we've been infiltrated. An agent of Reconquista is among us._

_**That word again,**_ Derf said as Lordgenome spread his Spiral Power, trying to find the reason why his first subordinate under the Great Gurren Brigade of Tristain was currently propped up in her bed, completely unresponsive, her blank eyes staring forward at nowhere in particular. _**What IS Reconquista, anyway?**_

_Damn it,_ Lordgenome said. _I was so close to finding out the truth of the matter from Matilda when… when… when…_

_**What's wrong, Partner?**_ Derf asked.

_This mind magic,_ Lordgenome thought,_ it's the same kind of mind magic I broke on Matilda that night on the road._

_**Are you saying what I think you're saying, Lordgenome?**_

_It seems so, Derf, it seems so,_ Lordgenome answered. _The agent is someone in the castle… someone we've already met. With the mission given to us…_ he trailed off.

_**We'd best tread extra carefully now, eh?**_

_We must. Louise going on what by all rights should be called a suicide mission… she'll need us to watch her back._

* * *

><p>The ship that would bring Louise, her familiar, and Viscount Wardes of the Lightning over to Albion would be arriving in an hour, and as they waited, Lordgenome could not help but pass the time looking over the man known as Viscount Wardes. He had been wary of the man ever since meeting him, the viscount being all charm, grace, and maybe a bit of smarmy hobnobbing towards the Duchess, but as soon as he pegged Louise's familiar as a commoner, his demeanor quickly changed when he thought that he was alone with the Duchess' daughter.<p>

Lordgenome and Derflinger looked disbelievingly at Wardes' eyes roaming all over Louise's petite frame, and he just had to hide his annoyance.

_Does this noble think we're idiots, Derf?_ Lordgenome asked. _Look at how he's disrobing my Master with his eyes. It's just a hair worse than that Mott fellow._

_**Well, you have embraced the identity of being some commoner Louise summoned to hide your powers,**_ the talking sword explained. _**Also, some people enjoy the taste of unripe fruit…**_

…_not me,_ Lordgenome replied rather indignantly. _And look at his little grin and his body language. Sucker bet he's the one who did this to Matilda._

_**Not **__**even**__** betting,**_ Derflinger replied. _**You felt her fear when you saw the Viscount enter.**_

_It seems I miscalculated,_ the former Spiral Knight grumbled. _I thought Matilda once stole from the Viscount. Never thought that Wardes was the one we're looking for. If we play our cards right, though, we'll have this little gryphon rider singing all about Reconquista – in soprano, too – when we're through with him._

_**Looking forward to it, partner,**_ Derf replied, grinning savagely in a way only a spirit enchanted to a Core Drill can.

* * *

><p>"Welcome to Albion," the viscount announced as their ship reached their destination. "We'll be here for at least a day or two while you handle diplomatic business."<p>

He reached for his coat, and Louise asked, confused, "if I'll be taking care of this matter, what will you be doing?"

"A bit of cloak-and-dagger on the Princess' behalf," the viscount replied. "Besides, you have that familiar of yours, right?"

"Yes… be careful, Viscount."

"Call me Jean-Jacques."

With a flair of his cloak, he was off and running on a tangent, leaving Louise and Lordgenome in his wake.

Lordgenome's eyes narrowed as he saw the leaving viscount. He had been a consummate gentleman the whole trip, but there was no disguising the desire in his eyes for Louise.

_**It's a sucker bet as to who was behind the disappearance of one of Louise's peignoirs**_, Derf thought wryly. _**Even more of a sucker bet as to why. That one was slept in.**_

Lordgenome made a face. _That was a bit too much information, Derf._

The spirit in the Core Drill only chuckled in reply.

"Come on, Lordgenome," Louise said. "We'd best get the letter to Prince Wales posthaste."

Seeing the determination in his master's eyes, Lordgenome nodded. "Let's get to it, then."

After the nod back, both of them quickly walked away from the port and to where a few rented carriages were waiting.

Their arrival at the palace of Albion would spark something that would alter the fate of not just one world, but of many. Lordgenome knew that something was coming, but he never realized just how big this would be.

* * *

><p>The Lifdrassil walked home with a jaunty step and a song in his heart. He had successfully taken several bounties – lucrative ones – and cashed them in. All that was left was to bring home the bacon, and then… and then…<p>

"**IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"**

A resounding scream shattered the silence in the dark of Westwood Village, and the beast-man given the Lifdrassil designate sprang into action, the voice being that of his master, the half-elf Tiffania.

Fearing the worst, he put on his best speed and made his way quickly through the shadow-filled woods, his link to the young woman who had summoned him as his guide.

When he rammed the door open and dashed inside, the sight within froze his heart utterly…

…as cold as the dead blood of Tiffania's would-be attackers as they lay pinned on the ground and walls, conical holes drilled into their heads and bodies.

But that wasn't what gave the man called Viral the biggest fright of his life.

It was the black miasma subsiding from the half-elf maiden, studded with red angular lines as she raised bloody hands to her face, aghast at the sheer amount of violence enacted.

This was when Viral realized that being the Lifdrassil was now more than just a glorified bodyguard job… that Tiffania Westwood was a lot more now than a young half-elf girl with bountiful tracts of land… and that his charge had fallen into a dead faint from the harrowing ordeal she had been through.

* * *

><p>Chapter 7 – <strong>END<strong>

* * *

><p>Note 1: Noblesse oblige means "nobility obliges". It is a common sense term where those who have more should help out those with less. In medieval times, the nobility were the ones given this task.<p>

**Author's Note:** I plan to contact the person here who wrote a "Louise summons Lordgenome" story and erased it after being overwhelmed by the **SIXTEEN HOURS OF B.O. BLOCKING POWER** "From Zero to Infinity" had. Not to gloat, but rather to take what he had planned for the story and see if it can be seamlessly added to mine. After all, "the wishes of the defeated, the hope of those who follow; when spun into a spiral, they will carve a path to tomorrow".

Also, to the reviewer who took a note about how I spelled Kirche as Kircheis, it's a stylistic choice. It also **may or may not be relevant in the near future** of the story.


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